


Cool Kid

by galaxy_farts



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: A little bit of angst, Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Dating, Eventual Smut, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Murdoc is a teddy bear, Not by Murdoc though, Not literally, Stu gets beat up badly, it gets sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-06 02:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 17
Words: 76,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11590848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxy_farts/pseuds/galaxy_farts
Summary: Sophomore-Year Stuart is a living bully-magnet. A certain trio of bullies constantly follows him around school and beat him. He admires Junior-Year Murdoc (whom he's never even talked with) and finds him to be amazing. Will Stuart finally talk to him? Will Murdoc accept Stuart or will he disregard his feelings?





	1. Chapter 1

Stuart jumped into some small bushes, big enough for him to hide. He panted as he peaked through the tiny gaps in the leaves. There they were. They observed their surroundings and crossed the road opposite to Stuart. He saw them turn around the corner and they were gone. He sat down and caught his breath. Finally.

Stuart had just been running away from his high school bullies. They had taken him by surprise as he was riding his bike back home. They had pushed him off the bike and beat him while he was still on the floor. As Stuart was remembering the situation, he had completely forgotten about his bike. They had surely destroyed it as he ran off, which would explain how he managed to get such a head start from them. The trio had chased him through the streets and now Stuart was several blocks away from home. He gathered his backpack which had its contents spilled all across the soft green grass and stood up.

Every breath he took was wheezy and painful since he wasn't the most athletic kid in school and he had just ran through at least five streets at full speed. His weak lungs had nearly popped out of his ribs as he ran away from the aggressors and now both organs felt frozen from the cool air. It wasn't a cold day, but it was certainly windy and the sky seemed to be getting darker. Even if he went back home immediately, the bad weather was still sure to catch him. He sighed and looked down. There were droplets of blood on his collared shirt which stood out because of the bright white color. He brushed his hand over his nose and saw a red smear on his wrist. A nosebleed.

Stuart was sure he looked terrible and knew that if he got home now, his mother would be greatly upset but his father would say something like "Serves you as experience for the real world". Stuart knew his father didn't approve of his rather feminine ways, but if he cared so much he would've actually raised him instead of being gone for the majority of his childhood.

Stuart had been raised by his mom since he was just born. His father had left both of them to search for a job and earn money to raise Stuart, but he had only returned home a year ago. Stuart didn't really believe that his father had "won the lottery and bought mansions for himself" as his father had explained to them but he didn't say anything against it because of how happy his mother was after he came back.

Stuart was brought back to Earth as a frisbee flew into the back of his head. He turned around as he rubbed the area of impact. A group of children laughed as they saw his reaction. Stuart simply turned forward and started walking back home. Kids could be cruel, he knew that -unfortunately - more than anyone else.

As he started walking back, he felt sprinkles of water falling on his head. He looked up to see the rain starting to take over the sky. It looked as though even the sky was about to cry for him now. He put his backpack over his head and sped up his pace as he reached the next stop-light.

°°°•••°°°•••

When he reached his house, the sky was already thundering and the rain was pouring hard. Half-way through his trip, Stuart decided his backpack wasn't of much use as an umbrella and had proceeded to get home completely soaked. Surprisingly, no one was home when Stuart arrived. He looked around the house and found a small note taped to his bedroom door.

_Dear Stuart, Your father suggested we fine-dine tonight, just me and him. We'll be back at around ten o'clock. Your dinner is in the fridge. -Love, Mom._

Stuart was partially glad they were gone because it meant he didn't have to explain his wounds, at least tonight. He went to the bathroom sink and washed his face. When he looked up he nearly scared himself. His reflection showed he had a severe black eye and several scars all over his face. There was a particularly nasty one near his hairline that was still dripping blood. The blood had mixed in with the bright blue color of his hair, leaving a sickly purple stain on his hair. He scrunched his nose and washed it off with a towel. He could put a band-aid on that after he had a shower.

After said shower, Stuart went straight to bed, skipping dinner as he had lost all appetite after such a stressful day. He changed into his blue and yellow duck-pattern pajamas and snuggled into bed. His father never approved of his childish ways either but it was inevitable since he had a naturally childish mind which often got in his way of making friends. Stuart relaxed as he told himself he wouldn't have to face his dad telling him to change out of his favorite nightwear. He wasn't here, so he wouldn't have to judge him in any way.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart got up especially early. It was around five in the morning when he stepped out of bed and into the kitchen. His father had gone to work by now and his mother was surely asleep. This meant he had an entire three hours to himself before the school day started. Stuart had already changed into his clothes and was ready to head out of his house. His face was still looking at some serious bruises and scars and that painfully obvious black eye. He had snuck out some of his mother's make up to hide the bruises and black eye, which had worked out quite nicely.

Stuart walked out and saw the sky was still dark. He reached a nearby convinience store and bought an energy drink and a candy bar. As he was waiting in line, a high-pitched voice spoke to him.

"You know energy drinks kill you, right?", a girl a few years younger than him asked. Stuart smirked and turned to look at her.

"Whatever it takes to get rid of my responsibilities," he answered jokingly.

The blonde girl looked shocked to hear this and frowned at him. She crossed her arms and ignored him for the time being. Stuart sighed as he stood in line. No one seemed to understand his slightly dark humor. Once he paid, Stuart walked out of the store and took a bite of the candy bar. Chocolate was supposed to make one feel happier, but he didn't really feel any different after eating it.

Stuart decided he'd stop by a park across the street from his school. By the time he arrived, it was already six o'clock. He sat at a swing and looked through his phone as the minutes flew by. All he did was update his digital diary and read new web-comics on his only "social media" app. There wasn't much to the application other than uploading comics and commenting, so it barely even counted as social media.

Before he knew it, it was already seven o'clock and the sun was rising from its long nap. He walked across the street and arrived at the gate of the school. Classes didn't start until eight, but he liked hanging out in the building while before-school clubs took place. The only reason he hadn't joined any before-school clubs was because none had accepted him due to them being "full" or "only accepting a select few who were deemed worthy". The only club who had told him that was a group of rather geeky kids who played card games before school started.

Stuart paced through the school halls and peeked into some classrooms that were still empty. There were no security cameras, so no one would even knew he had entered. He eventually found a classroom where a group of students were all seated. He looked through the window but didn't enter. He recognized several students as the typical bad kids of the school. Detention kids. Why were they there in the morning?

Stuart tilted his head to get a better angle of what was going on inside through the small window. A teacher was there with them, he seemed to be lecturing the group on proper behavior, based on what was written on the board. Stuart squinted to take a better look inside when one of the students turned to look at him. Stuart ducked and slid down to the floor, leaning against the door. He'd surely been seen but maybe they hadn't recognized him.

Stuart was sure he'd seen the student somewhere else, that broken nose seemed very familiar. He recognized his face, as he had him in one of his classes. He thought hard and then remembered. He was in his Writing class.

The student was a year older than Stuart and he admired the boy, despite the two never talking. There was something about him that Stuart couldn't pin down. The student seemed so cool and everything about him was what Stuart wished he could be. The boy didn't care what people thought about him and he was overflowing with confidence. Stuart stopped fantasizing when he realized he didn't even remember his name.

He got up and decided to take one last glimpse into the room. As he brushed himself off of the dirty floor, he looked up and saw the same boy's face right in front of the window, looking at him.

Stuart let out a shriek and ran away into the hall. He'd definitely been seen now. Stuart rushed down the stairs and made it back to the school office. He caught his breath and peaked at the stairs to see if anyone had followed him. He sighed in relief and walked towards the lunchroom where he sat until the late bell rang.

°°••••°°°•••

The day had passed by rather quickly, something both good and bad for Stuart. He had his bullies in his first few classes, that was a reason why the day flying by was good. However, he had the boy from the morning in his last class, Writing. Stuart walked quickly to reach his Writing class, if he was in there before the other boy (who, throughout the day, he had named "Cool Kid"), he could avoid strange stares from him as he walked in. Stuart rushed and pushed several people on his way there, he was so close, he was sure he'd make it. There were crowds all around the doors, as per usual.

The door was wide opened and Stuart rushed in. Just as he thought he'd made it, he head butted right into someone coming out of the room, causing all his belongings to end up on the floor.

"Oww!", Stuart whined as he rubbed his forehead and looked up. He let out a small gasp and his face went red. It was him.

Without thinking, Stuart blurted out, "Cool kid!". He covered his mouth and stared at him. The boy looked back at Stuart but quickly broke eye contact as he reached down. Stuart looked down to see him picking up his journals and folders.

"Here, you dropped this," he muttered as he handed Stuart his stuff. Stuart grabbed it but was still in shock. Had he really just head butted the coolest kid he knew and just proceeded to watch him pick his stuff up for him?

"Be careful where you walk, you'll end up hurt," the boy grumbled as he walked past Stuart. Stuart kept watching him in awe and stood at the doorway. Damn.

 

When class had started, Stuart took his usual seat and stared at Cool Kid from across the room. He had felt so proud of himself in those few seconds and he couldn't bring himself to stop thinking about it. He hadn't struggled to start a conversation, but he hadn't really even started it. As a matter of fact, Stuart hadn't even added anything to the conversation other than dropping all his stuff and calling the boy by his nickname. Stuart sighed and flipped through his journal, not looking for anything but just distracting himself. Stuart checked the time. Still half an hour to go.

°°°•••°°°•••

When the alarm rang, he was on a roll with writing his personal memoir. He looked up in shock and closed his journal, feeling sorry to have cut his creative streak so abruptly. He packed his belongings up and headed for the door. As he was heading out, a familiar voice called him. Stuart turned around. It was Cool Kid.

"Hey, hi," the boy greeted as he stood next to Stuart.

"Good, how are you?", Stuart asked. The boy looked at him with confusion. "I mean! I was going to - sorry I thought you," Stuart started. The boy laughed and walked out of class with Stuart.

"When you bumped into me earlier," the boy started, "I thought I recognized you from somewhere. Have we...met?". Stuart gulped.

"I saw you this morning...through the window," Stuart said. The boy paused to think and then remembered. "Oh! Right! The one who yelled, huh?", he said.

Stuart stayed silent for a second and then nodded. "That same guy..."

"I'm Murdoc," he said. "Murdoc Niccals." Stuart screamed internally. Of course he'd have such a cool name. Stuart didn't look up at him but still answered.

"Stuart...Pot. Stuart Pot," he finished. He felt his heart pounding as he walked next to Murdoc.

"You've got...quite some hair there," Murdoc laughed. Stuart felt his face burning in embarrassment.

"Sorry, it's something really weird that happened, if it was my choice, I'd--", Stuart got cut off by Murdoc.

"It's nice, though. I like it, it really stands out," said Murdoc, completely ignoring Stuart's comment. Stuart let out a shaky and awkward laugh as he turned to look at Murdoc. "Really? You like it?", Stuart asked in between his laugh.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone else would be able to pull that off, actually," Murdoc added. Stuart was taken by surprise by the flowing compliments. This couldn't be real. They headed out of the building and the sky looked cloudy once again, there would surely be more rain.

"Well, I better get going now, I can't miss my bus home, so...see you tomorrow?", Murdoc said.

"Yeah, same time!", Stuart smiled. "Well...during Writing class or before school?".

Murdoc thought about it and grinned. "Both."

With that, Murdoc walked off and disappeared into the street corner. Stuart let out a sigh and tightened his grip on his journals. He'd better get home quick before the rain caught him again.

°°°•••°°°•••

The rest of the day, Stuart spent in his room thinking about what he'd do the next day at school. He had wiped off all the make up he'd used to hide his bruises and decided he wouldn't step out of his room to confront his parents about the incident. He still looked pretty awful and his black eye didn't seem to be going anywhere but his scars were definitely healing better. He laid back on his bed and decided he'd sleep earlier to get enough rest before he left the house again the next morning. He closed his eyes and blocked out all the sounds from the living room TV to the raging thunderstorm outside with his own thoughts.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart got up early and applied the same make up from yesterday. No one had noticed his beat up face with it, so he decided he'd do it again. He got up at six since he figured he didn't need an entire hour to waste like yesterday. He was quick to change and leave his house, heading to school to meet up with Murdoc again. 

He could hardly hold his excitement as he reached the building. Stuart entered and sprinted upstairs to the same classroom from yesterday. He peeked through the door's window. Stuart was surprised to see no one inside and the lights turned off. He figured he was a bit early and decided to wait a while to greet Murdoc once he arrived.

A few minutes turned into a half hour and Stuart was now sitting at the door on his phone, still waiting for Murdoc. He looked up for any signs of him arriving. Nothing.

Stuart continued to browse on his phone for a while until the alarm for the start of classes rang. He gathered his backpack and walked to his first period class, feeling a lot more bummed out than he'd expected to feel.

°°°•••°°°•••

By the time he had to be in Writing class again, Stuart was no where near forgetting Murdoc's missed appointment. As he entered the classroom, he saw Murdoc in his seat as relaxed as ever. Stuart didn't have the courage to confront him about the problem and sat down at his own seat. He thought he could ask him why he wasn't there but all his thoughts had abandoned him as soon as he stepped in. Stuart opened up his journal and continued with his memoir.

 

The sound of the bell brought Stuart back to Earth. He closed his journal and packed everything up. He got up quickly, hoping to avoid any and all contact with Murdoc. He speed walked out of the room and felt relief as he made it out without catching Murdoc's attention.

"Stuart!"

Uh oh.

Stuart turned around to see Murdoc pushing his way through crowds of students. Stuart picked up his pace as he heard him calling him again. He sprinted down the stairs as he heard Murdoc still calling after him. He exited the stairs and walked into an empty hall. He felt a tight grip on his shoulder and turned around quickly.

"I don't wanna talk!", Stuart yelled with his eyes shut. He opened them and froze in place.

"Since when do you think you can talk to us like that, huh?", a tall boy asked. It was the bullying trio.

"Looks like we're gonna have to beat some manners into ya, doesn't it?", said the fat, shorter bully.

Stuart started backing into a wall. "I didn't mean it...Please just leave me, you guys took my bike already last time!", Stuart begged. He could feel his throat tightening and his eyes burning with tears.

Stuart only saw a fist going straight to his face. He shut his eyes tight as he was pushed to the ground, grunting after every kick and punch they threw. He heard several things pop to which he let out a dry sob. He covered his head with his hands and tried his best to guard his chest with his knees.

The trio pulled Stuart up to his feet and proceeded to beat him standing up. He took several hits in the face when he heard one of the bullies step back.

"What's this?!", the bully in front of him shouted. Stuart tried his best to open up his eyes. He saw the other's fist covered in blood and traces of concealer, pigmented several shades lighter than the bully's skin.

"What are you, a fucking woman?! Putting on make up like a filthy whore?!", he shouted, earning a laugh from the other two. Stuart could barely open his eyes but fought against their grip, trying to get away. Even yelling wouldn't help since his throat was so tightened. His weak attempts brought out cackles from the three bullies. He just wanted to go home. He wanted to hide in his bed where no one could ever find him. There was one last punch delivered straight to his left temple that left him with a ringing in his ears.

Stuart suddenly felt their grip weaken. Everything was fading out as he fell to the floor. He tried opening his eyes to see what was happening, but only saw blurry shapes. He shut his eyes and allowed himself to be captured into the pit of unconsciousness, all feelings slipping away slowly.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart opened up his eyes. He saw white, a glowing and bright white he had to shield his eyes from at first. The floor felt cold and hard. He tried blinking into focus but still couldn't make out much in front of him. There was what looked like several doors lined up. A bathroom? He stood up slowly and lifted his head. It was then that he made out a shape of another person at the corner of the bathroom. Stuart was taken aback by the sudden image and leaned against the sink. The shape got bigger as it walked towards him. He turned to the sink and washed his face to focus his eyes.

As he washed his face, he felt a thick substance coming off his face as he wiped it off. It must've been the concealer. He wiped it all off and looked into the mirror. God, he looked terrible. There was now a second black eye and even more scrapes all over his face. His nose had a trail of dried blood that reached down to his top lip. He opened his mouth slowly and saw blood stains all over his teeth. Stuart lifted his top lip to reveal his two front teeth missing. He widened his eyes in shock and put a hand over his mouth.

"Are you okay?". Stuart turned around to see Murdoc approaching him slowly. Murdoc looked beat up too, he had several bruises forming around his face and a cut lip. Stuart nodded and turned back to the mirror. He hoped Murdoc hadn't seen his two teeth missing.

"How long have those guys been bothering you?", Murdoc asked with worry. Stuart was confused at first but then processed everything. Great.

"I'm fine. I was okay back there...", Stuart mumbled.

"No, you were definitely not okay, Stu. You passed out in the middle of a hall! I couldn't just ignore something like that," Murdoc shouted. "Stuart, if you wanna tell me something, you know I'll be here to listen."

Stuart felt tears filling his eyes again. He wanted to tell Murdoc so much, but words couldn't describe what he was going through. At least none that he knew. He looked up at Murdoc as a single tear rolled down his face.

"Will you? Will you really be there?", Stuart asked with a cracking voice. Murdoc stared at him in shock but tried hiding it by clearing his throat.

"If this is about what happened in the morning, I just want to let you know that I had no idea where you were in the building. I waited in the lunchroom for like, almost an hour and then I searched through classrooms until the bell rang," Murdoc explained. Stuart felt a hint of relief inside him. At least Murdoc hadn't forgotten about him.

Stuart felt himself emotionally collapsing and burst into tears. He rested his head on Murdoc's shoulder and felt tears streaming down his face. He sobbed into his shoulder and Murdoc was rubbing his back in a hug. As Stuart cried, he felt the burning of his salty tears entering the cuts on his face. He wiped his eyes and continued sobbing.

Murdoc couldn't do much other than comfort him with a hug. He slid his hand up to Stuart's hair and slowly patted it. Now would be a bad time to say it, but Stuart smelled really nice. Murdoc took a few sniffs of his bright blue hair and was overwhelmed by the amazing scent. How could someone smell so nice?

Stuart stepped back and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He looked up at Murdoc and gave him a bleak smile.

"Thank you...", he mumbled. Murdoc nodded and put his hands in his sweater pockets.

Stuart looked around for his backpack but saw it was nowhere to be found. Had they seriously taken his backpack too?

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I got this before I left," said Murdoc as he lifted up the familiar backpack. "Thought you might want it back now."

Stuart grabbed it and smiled at him. "I'd better get home now..."

"Do you wanna walk home together?", Murdoc asked. Stuart looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Well...it's just a suggestion, in case those guys show up again, you know?", Murdoc added.

"Don't you have a bus to catch, though?", Stuart asked.

"I'm pretty sure I already missed it by this point," Murdoc said.

Stuart laughed and nodded with a wider smile. "Let's go then."

°°°•••°°°•••

On their way there, the two talked about each other. They got to know each other better and Murdoc found out the real reason behind Stuart's crazy hair color. They joked about their classes and school life and found that they had more in common than they initially thought.

When they finally arrived at the front of Stuart's house, they said their goodbyes.

"I probably look horrible, don't I?", Stuart asked.

"Yeah, right. You can't look horrible," Murdoc said. He realized what he said and was quick to change the meaning. "I mean, the combination of your hair color and your missing teeth is pretty rock and roll," he grinned.

Stuart laughed. "Very flattering," he said. Stuart sighed and looked up at Murdoc.

"See you tomorrow, then," Stuart said.

"In the morning. In the library," Murdoc cleared out. Stuart nodded and turned to his front door as Murdoc began walking away.

"Don't forget!", Murdoc called out as he waved at Stuart.

"I won't!", Stuart shouted. He stayed staring at Murdoc until he was completely gone. He sighed and thought about everything. It had all gone better than expected, even though he took another beating the second time that week for it. Stuart took comfort in the fact that Murdoc had been the one to fight for him. He entered his house and sat at the couch as he immersed himself into his thoughts.

He had definitely fallen for Murdoc.


	2. Chapter 2

After leaving Stuart's home, Murdoc stayed wandering the streets for another two hours, just thinking about the younger boy. He didn't immediately go home. He never did.

Murdoc always had a cool exterior to show people in school. He had spent years creating and perfecting this protective layer to keep himself away from anything that could hurt him. Being brought up in an abusive home, he had seen a lot for a boy of his age. His father had damaged him in irreversible ways both physically and mentally ever since he could remember. His older brother had left the house about a year ago and he had left Murdoc alone with that monster of a man. There were several times in which he had wanted to end it all. In those times, he believed what his father told him, that no one would ever love him, that he was a waste of space.

However, Murdoc had managed to rise above all of his father's remarks for 17 years by telling himself that his old man was no one to be telling him all that. He knew that if he killed himself, he would only be doing his father a favor. It was all this that made him wander the streets until the sun went down. It was just another day for him.

As the moon lit up his path, Murdoc snuck into his room through his bedroom window. He tried to avoid making any noise that could awaken the man in the other room, but his window was rather small and Murdoc wasn't getting any smaller to fit through.

Once inside, Murdoc sat at his bed as he rummaged through his backpack. He had several assignments due the next morning and he had to finish them tonight. He slipped out several papers and began working. A long night was awaiting him, but he was sure he could finish at least by three in the morning.

°°°•••°°°•••

He was on his last question already. Murdoc scribbled down an answer and checked the time. Two in the morning. He closed his eyes to rest them after staying up so long. At least he could sleep an hour earlier than he thought he would. Murdoc put his assignments into his backpack and was about to close it when he saw his notebook. His notebook.

Murdoc groaned as he had completely forgotten about finishing his memoir. He looked at the clock again. It'd take way over an hour to finish writing since he wasn't feeling very creative and he wasn't the best writer himself. He zipped up his backpack and decided he could work on it in the morning. Murdoc slipped into bed and got comfortable, falling asleep as soon as he had closed his eyes.

°°°•••°°°•••

There was a loud bang to which Murdoc jumped out of bed. He peaked out the window and squinted as the sun shined brightly into his room. He shut the blinds and turned back to his room. Murdoc rested his eyes, still sitting up as he felt the warmth of the sun on his skin, making him feel relaxed. He turned to the clock. Seven o'clock. He widened his eyes, still frozen in place.

"Stuart!", Murdoc shouted, just now remembering he had agreed to meet up with him. He leaped out of bed, quickly changed into clean clothes and put on his shoes. He picked his backpack up by one strap and ran out of the house. He could still make it on time if he hurried.

He ran through the streets taking big breaths of air every second. Murdoc felt thankful that he was relatively fit as he sprinted through a convinience store. He didn't wait for cars to stop and just ran through the busy road. There were several car horns sounding as he crossed to the other side. Once he made it, he continued to run towards the school building, still at least a street-length away. Murdoc didn't stop to rest even once as he passed through the school gate.

He opened the main entrance's door and ran upstairs. Once there, he turned to the left and searched for the library. Room 217.

Murdoc ran through the hall until he finally found the room. He pulled open the door and shut it behind him. He peaked at the tables near a book shelf. There he was.

Murdoc cleared his throat and Stuart turned up to look at him.

"Oh, you made it!", Stuart smiled. He hadn't worn any make up today. Murdoc smiled and sat across from him.

"So, what happened with your parents?", Murdoc asked, "With the bruises and stuff?". Stuart scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.

"Umm...they still don't know," Stuart mumbled.

Murdoc glared at Stuart and crossed his arms. "You didn't tell them again?"

"Well they weren't home when I got there so I just went into my room but I guess I fell asleep while I waited for them to come back," Stuart said. Murdoc didn't press any more on the subject.

"Did you finish that Writing assignment?", Murdoc asked.

"Yeah, I finished mine yesterday in class," Stuart said, "Did you finish yours?"

Murdoc sighed, faking distress. "I couldn't finish it on time, I had so much to do at home," he said. Stuart looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

"Well, at least you finished your other assignments, right?", Stuart asked. Murdoc turned to him, still keeping an upset face. "Yeah..."

"Hey, I have an idea!", Murdoc said, "How about you finish my memoir for me? You know, since you're so good at Writing."

Stuart widened his eyes. "You mean...t-to cheat?", Stuart stuttered.

"Well, I wouldn't say that...It's more like...helping me out. I can pay you back tomorrow," Murdoc said. Stuart looked away in shame. "I don't know..."

"C'mon, you're like, the best writer I know, I'm sure this would be a piece of cake for you," Murdoc added. Stuart blushed and look back at Murdoc. 

"Really? I am?", he beamed.

"Why else would I ask for _your_ help?"

Stuart smiled and then nodded slowly. "Okay, but only this one time," Stuart said.

Murdoc smirked and looked through his backpack, trying to find his notebook. _He fell right into that one_ , he thought.

Murdoc took out his notebook and handed it to Stuart. Stuart took it and put it into his own backpack. "I'll work on it during second period," he said.

"Alright, thanks. You're the best, Two-Dents," Murdoc said as he started walking out of the library.

Stuart heard the door close and thought about his new nickname. _Two Dents?_. Why that? Stuart tried figuring it out but then remembered his two front teeth were gone. Right. He hoped Murdoc wasn't actually making fun of him for it.

°°°•••°°°•••

Once second period arrived, Stuart sat at his desk and pulled out Murdoc's notebook. He wasn't too worried about being caught writing in a math class since their teacher was out for two weeks. Most replacement teachers didn't care about the students and preferred to be on their phones for the whole half-hour.

Stuart didn't even know what Murdoc's memoir should be about. It was supposed to be a personal event that had "shaped who they were". Stuart figured he could just make something up and hope the teacher believed it. Just as he was about to start, a man at the front of the room called for everyone's attention.

"We have a transfer student who will be staying with us for five months," he said dully. "She's from China and started school a year earlier than the majority of you. She's still learning English so don't overwhelm her. That said, let me go get her."

The man walked out of the room and talked to, who they could only assume was the girl, outside of the room. The class stayed silent, trying to catch a bit of what they were saying.

After a few seconds, the girl slowly walked in. She definitely looked younger than everyone in the room since she was a lot shorter. She had dark hair that reached a little below her shoulders. It seemed like she was wearing a uniform, maybe from her previous school.

She observed the room, fidgeting her fingers as she lowered her stare.

"You can sit next to Stuart," the man told her. "Stuart, raise your hand."

He did as he was told and the girl glanced at him. She set her bag next to the chair and sat down, still not looking at anyone in the eye.

"Well, have a nice day, everyone," the man said as he stepped out of the room.

Stuart turned to the girl and gulped. He was terrible with people in general but something about younger people made him extremely nervous.

"I-I'm Stuart," he said smiling. The girl looked up at him but didn't smile back.

"Noodoru"

Stuart raised a brow and looked at her. "Beg a pardon?"

"My name," she started, "My name ees Noodoru."

"Oh," Stuart said. He felt awkward now that he had confused her accent with gibberish. Was her name seriously Noodle?

"Nice to meet you, Noodle," he replied. She put her bag on her lap and took out a glittery notebook along with a cat-themed mechanical pencil. Stuart only watched as she wrote her name on the notebook's grid paper and it had to be some of the neatest handwriting he had ever seen. The letters were bubbly and perfectly aligned, something he could never do with any paper.

She looked up at Stuart again. "Noo-doh-roo", she sounded out, pointing at every syllable in her name.

She began writing again but Stuart couldn't see what it was since she placed her hand over the writing. Once she finished she shoved the notebook in front of Stuart.

_Hello. I am Japan student. You are student here?_

Stuart looked up at her and nodded. "I thought I heard the teacher say you were Chinese."

Noodle looked at him and glared. She underlined "Japan" three times and looked back up at him. Stuart just nodded and said, "He must've just messed up."

She turned back to her notebook and wrote another sentence under her previous one. Once finished, she slided it towards Stuart again.

_When class is over?_

"9:40. Didn't they give you a schedule?", Stuart asked.

She tilted her head in confusion, staring at Stuart.

"Your classes. Um, a class-list?", he asked.

"Oh, sookejool?", she said as she looked through her many folders. She slipped out a sheet with her classes. "Sookejool," she said pointing at it.

"Yeah, it has the times on there," he responded.

Noodle looked down at the sheet. "Oh, yes!", she laughed. "Soh-ree..."

"It's okay," Stuart said. She opened up her bag again and took out a purple folder. From there, she slipped out an English worksheet in which she had to rewrite sentences. Stuart figured he'd leave her to it and proceeded to start Murdoc's memoir.

°°°•••°°°•••

After his Home Economics class, Stuart had his free hour. Most students took this time to eat in the lunchroom or other classrooms but he spent it in the library almost every day. It's not like he was alone, he had a friend who went in with him too, Russel Hobbs.

Russel had been his friend since his junior high school days. The two had met after Stuart had forgotten a pencil and Russel let him borrow his. That same day, Stuart lost Russel's pencil. However, Russel didn't think much of it and instead offered his friendship to Stuart. Since then, the two had hung out and helped each other when the time called.

Russel was very calm and quiet for the majority of the time. It's not like he was shy, he just never had much to say. That and he slept through a lot of classes. It was Russel's constant lack of words that helped Stuart feel relaxed about not having to start a lot of conversations.

Stuart entered the library and headed straight to the tables in the center of the room. Russel was already in there, reading a thick book.

"Hey, Russ!", Stuart called.

Russel looked up at him and gave him a small smile then continued reading. Stuart took a seat next to Russel and exhaled slowly. He took out the notebook and a pencil.

"What are you reading now?", Stuart asked, not looking up from Murdoc's notebook.

"Another ghost story," Russel said. Stuart sighed.

"I'm telling you, ghosts aren't real, Russ..." Stuart muttered.

"Well, you don't know that. Besides, even if they're not, some of these stories are just good," Russel responded.

Stuart shrugged and kept writing. "Maybe."

Russel set his book down. "Hadn't you already finished that assignment?"

Stuart stopped and looked up at him. "Yeah, actually, um...a friend wanted me to help him work on this--"

"Oh, God...", Russel started.

"But it's okay! I'm only helping him get started, you don't have to worry."

"That's how it starts," Russel said, "First it's 'help on an assignment' but then it turns into copying and eventually you're doing his work for the rest of the year."

Stuart looked down to avoid Russel's glare. Russel sighed and crossed his arms.

"Do I at least know him?", he asked.

"His name's Murdoc. Murdoc Niccals."

"Ugh, _That_ guy?!", Russel shouted. Stuart flinched at his loud tone.

"Stuart, that guy is the absolute worst. He's a terrible example for you! You know he lives in _that_ part of town, right?"

Stuart frowned and got closer to Russel. "He's a great guy and he's really nice! I don't care if he lives in an... _unfortunate_ part of town."

Russel rolled his eyes. "Suit yourself, I guess."

Stuart sighed and kept writing. He rarely ever got in arguments with Russel but even when he did, it was never that bad. Stuart felt bad that he had to fight with his best friend, but he couldn't let him talk bad about Murdoc right in front of him.

"Sorry, Stuart," Russel said. "I just got scared for you. I know you're very introverted and Murdoc's just...not. I don't mind if you help him, just don't let him make you feel bad, okay?"

Stuart nodded and smiled up at Russel. "Got it."

Russel picked up his book again and continued reading. Stuart was nearly done with Murdoc's memoir, he only needed about a paragraph more. He had decided to recreate the moment Murdoc met him. Stuart didn't know how the other was feeling at the time, but he tried his best to capture the essence of Murdoc. His essence was definitely not easy to capture, considering he barely knew him.

The rest of the hour, Stuart stayed editing and reviewing the memoir, making sure to get it to perfection. He was just adding a final touch when the loud bell rang inside the library, signaling the end if their free period and the beginning of Stuart's reading class.

°°°•••°°°•••

Once in his reading class, Stuart saw Noodle coming through the door. She saw Stuart and smiled as she walked over to him. Stuart smiled back and greeted her. She sat across from him and took out her glittery notebook again.

"Hey, Noodle, you don't have to write everything you want to say. Can't you just say it?", Stuart asked.

Noodle looked at him and wrote quickly on her notebook.

_What occur in your face?_

Stuart had almost forgotten he hadn't worn any make up that day. He rubbed his black eye and flinched at the pain. "Bullies."

Noodle nodded and began writing again.

_Japan have bully too. I stop bully. Bully is dumb. ___

__Stuart nodded and smiled. She smiled back at him and took out the English packet she had in their second period. She read through the questions and wrote slowly to keep her answers neat. Stuart opened up his own journal to take notes on the book he had been reading. He felt relieved to see a familiar face in another class and he was sure Noodle felt the same._ _

__°°°•••°°°•••_ _

__When the bell called for the next class, Stuart got out of his seat and made his way to the door. He saw Noodle struggling with her bag and decided to go back to help her. As he walked over, he saw her drop all her folders onto the ground and she growled something Japanese, most likely curse words._ _

__Stuart picked up her folders and handed them to her. She grabbed them and stuffed them back into her bag. She smiled up at him and walked off, leaving him at the table. Stuart blinked and shook his head. Maybe doing that wasn't rude in Japan._ _

__°°°•••°°°•••_ _

__Stuart was taking out Murdoc's journal when he suddenly appeared behind him._ _

__"Did you finish it?"_ _

__Stuart jumped up at his voice and turned to look at him. "Oh, you scared me!"_ _

__"Well, did you finish it?", Murdoc urged._ _

__"Yeah, here," Stuart said as he handed him the journal._ _

__"Thanks, I'll pay you tomorrow, 'kay?", Murdoc said as he walked off with the journal in hand. Stuart watched him leave and sighed. He couldn't wait to meet up with him again after school._ _

__

__The teacher called everyone up one by one to hand in their memoirs. When it was Stuart's turn, he waited anxiously for the teacher to give him a rating for his writing._ _

__"Great job, Stuart," she said,"As always."_ _

__Stuart took his journal and walked back to his seat. He knew he was a good writer for the most part, but he couldn't help it when he got nervous every time he had to present anything. As he sat down, he heard the teacher call Murdoc to the front. He glanced every now and then to see the teacher's reaction to the memoir._ _

__"Wow, Murdoc, this is great! I can definitely see you've improved. You mind if I hold on to this?", she asked as she looked up at him._ _

__"Sure, I guess."_ _

__"Alright," she smiled as she put the journal in a paper folder. "Can't wait to show it to the other writing teachers, they're going to be shocked. This is so emotion-packed, it's probably the best in the class."_ _

__Murdoc smiled and walked back to his seat. Stuart couldn't explain it, but he didn't feel right. He knew he should be glad that Murdoc had gotten a good grade, but he also felt angry and a hint of jealous. That was _his_ paper and _his_ work. Why was Murdoc getting all of the praise for it? It wasn't fair._ _

__Stuart exhaled heavily and began working on his reading notes again, shooting angry stares at Murdoc when he wasn't looking._ _

__°°°•••°°°•••_ _

__When class was over, Stuart got out of his seat and walked out the door. His deep emotions still told him to not wait for Murdoc, but he walked slow enough to let the other catch up to him. Sure enough, Murdoc caught up to him and greeted him._ _

__"Did you see the teacher's reaction to your writing?", Murdoc asked. "She loved it, you must feel great!"_ _

__Stuart nodded and forced a smile, still not really forgiving Murdoc. They walked down the stairs together and exited the building._ _

__"Sorry about arriving late in the morning, I had to pull an all-nighter's to finish the rest of my work," Murdoc apologized. Stuart turned to look at him in shock._ _

__"You didn't tell me you had pulled an all-nighter's! You should've! I would have worked harder on the paper!", Stuart said._ _

__"Hey, you already worked really hard on it," Murdoc said. "That's why I want you to just take the day off today, okay, love?"_ _

__Stuart felt his face turn bright red but hid it with his journals. "Right...", he muttered._ _

__Murdoc stopped at the street corner and looked at Stuart. "I gotta get my bus so...smell you later, Two-Dents."_ _

__Stuart paused and walked up to Murdoc. "What's that mean?"_ _

__"Huh? What does Two-Dents mean?", Murdoc asked. Stuart nodded._ _

__"It's just a cute nickname I thought of because, you know, 'cause of your teeth. You don't like it?"_ _

__Stuart looked to the side and nodded, "I like it but I wasn't expecting a joke out of my appearance..."_ _

__"Woah, woah, woah, who said it was a joke? Don't take it the wrong way, I think you still own that look.", Murdoc said, "If you want, I can shorten it to something like...I don't know, 2-D?"_ _

__Stuart thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, sounds great!"_ _

__"Alright. See you tomorrow, 2-D!"_ _

__Stuart walked back home and hummed a tune while he crossed the unusually empty street. He felt a bit guilty for feeling jealous of Murdoc now and decided tomorrow he'd make it up to him with a surprise. He didn't know what he could do, but he was sure Murdoc would love it. As he thought of possible gifts, he felt butterflies in his stomach. He blushed as he remembered Murdoc had called him "love". Maybe Murdoc felt the same way Stuart felt about him?_ _

__°°°•••°°°•••_ _

__On his way to the public bus stop, Murdoc thought again and again about Stuart. The boy was pretty cute, although not many would be able to see that. He slipped out a smile as he thought about how excited Stuart seemed about his new nickname. Murdoc was quick to stop smiling when he realized how ridiculous it was of him to be thinking of that. There was no way he could like-like Stuart and -unfortunately- there was no way Stuart could like him like that either._ _

__He stayed in thought until he saw the bus arriving. He snapped back and stepped into the bus. Luckily, since he was a student, he got a discount on bus rides. He showed the driver his school ID and put a few coins into the small metal machine next to the door._ _

__Murdoc found a seat in the back of the bus, which was usual, considering that this time of the day was when buses were very busy and all the front seats were taken._ _

__Murdoc plugged in his ear buds and played songs on his phone, not waiting for any stop in specific and letting himself be immersed into the music._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few users asked for more chapters, so here it is! I don't know how many chapters this might have but I'll try my best to make an interesting story line. :-)


	3. Chapter 3

When Stuart opened up his front door, he was still smiling as he replayed Murdoc's and his conversation in his mind. When he entered the house, Stuart let out a small gasp. Both his parents were right in front of him, sitting in the living room. He widened his eyes when his mother turned to look at him.

"My God, what happened to you?!", she cried as she walked to him. "Who did this to you?!"

Stuart gulped and his father peaked over from behind his mother. "It's nothing, I just fell during my free period," he lied.

"Stuart, I'm not stupid and anyone can tell this is due to much more than a fall," she said, lifting Stuart's chin as she inspected his scars. Stuart made sure to not open his mouth too much. If he did, he'd reveal the gap where his two front teeth were supposed to be.

"Well, we were playing dodgeball and some kids got carried away too."

She looked at him with her hands at her hips. "I thought you didn't like sports?"

Stuart shrugged. "They invited me so I joined them."

His mother sighed and walked into the kitchen. "This is why I don't like you hanging out with such violent kids. You know how rude they can be."

Stuart was glad that his mother had believed his tale. His father, on the other hand, didn't seem as convinced.

"Say, what kinds of dodgeballs are those kids using? Are they made of stone or something of the like?", he laughed. Stuart forced a laugh and excused himself from the room, leaving his mother distressed and his father cackling.

°°°•••°°°•••

Once in his room, Stuart began working on his homework. He didn't have a lot and it was all due at least a week from now, but he didn't like to have work pile up on him. He finished scribbling down answers and under an hour, he was done with all the assignments. Stuart put it all away and reached for a blank sheet of paper from inside his backpack. He placed it at his desk and took out a wooden pencil from his drawer.

The white desk was very neatly organized; he had all his animal plushies that he had made in his Home Economics class aligned in the corner of the desk and a plastic drawer in which he kept pencils and erasers. The desk was lit up by a metal lamp which he had decorated with patterned tape. He had a stapler and rulers set up near his plush toys. He also stacked several notebooks inside the desk's drawers which he had bought before the school year began. Those notebooks were there because Stuart had bought all of them before school started. In the end, the school had provided with all the supplies and he was left with plenty empty notebooks with no use.

Stuart titled the blank page, "Possible Gifts for Murdoc" and underlined it. He tapped his chin with the end of the pencil, brainstorming gift ideas for his friend. Stuart looked around his room in search of inspiration but found nothing too great about it. Stuart turned back to his desk and stared at the plushies. The idea hit him and he wrote "Animal Plushie" at the top of the list. He didn't know what animals Murdoc liked but he assumed he could make a plushie of anything for him by tomorrow.

Under that, Stuart wrote "Candy". He had plenty of candy in his house, the problem would be finding one Murdoc liked. He figured that if he went with candy, he could just bring in all of it and have him choose the next day. Stuart looked back at his room and saw his umbrella. An umbrella!

Stuart scribbled his idea in the list and stopped to imagine his reaction to a gift like that.

~~~

Stuart imagined Murdoc taking the umbrella on a rainy day, walking across the street.

"Oh, Stuart, it looks like you've forgotten your umbrella!"

Stuart looked up at the sky to see the rain getting intense. "I guess I did..."

"It's okay, come share this one with me," he smiled. Stuart walked towards Murdoc and stood next to him, under the protection of the umbrella.

"Stuart, you look awfully cold. Here, snuggle with me to keep yourself warm."

Stuart blushed but shifted closer to Murdoc. He was really warm.

"You're still trembling? I know what can make you feel better," Murdoc said. He leaned into Stuart's face slowly. He tilted his head just a bit and pressed his lips against Stuart's.

~~~

"That's enough of that!", he told himself.

Stuart felt his face go red and he had to let himself catch his breath. After doing so, he crossed out umbrella and just circled his animal plushie idea.

°°°•••°°°•••

Murdoc had spent the majority of his afternoon in the public bus. He didn't stop anywhere until the bus had made six cycles and got off near the school building. He didn't want to admit it, but he had caught himself thinking about Stuart much more than once during his bus ride. Murdoc figured it was just because he had spent a lot of time with him throughout the day but his heart told him otherwise, as it always did.

Murdoc groaned as he felt something in his stomach fluttering again. He knew he couldn't ever like someone the way he was liking Stuart. Showing that sort of emotion would blow his cover in school as the cool kid he was and it'd be even worse if people found out it was Stuart who he fell in love with. Murdoc checked the time. Seven o'clock. He didn't want to go back to his house just yet and decided he'd walk around the school street for a while.

As he made his way through the empty sidewalk, he continued listening to music, completely tuning himself out of the real world. His feet just took him wherever at that point.

After a long while of walking, Murdoc looked up and recognized the familiar street. This was where Stuart lived. He knew his feet had taken him here completely aware this was where Stuart lived and he hated them for that.

After looking at the houses for a bit longer, Murdoc found himself admiring the bright and well-trimmed grass in the lawns. There were no puddles of mysterious liquids or broken beer bottles anywhere in sight, unlike Murdoc's street. The fresh smell of rain filled the air, not like the smell of cigars that lingered in his street. Murdoc inhaled the clean air and couldn't help but to smile at how neat everything was.

As he was walking through the street, Murdoc's mind wandered back to Stuart. He thought about how Stuart was living just a few houses away from where he was right now. Murdoc wondered what Stuart was doing right now. What was Stuart thinking of? What was he feeling? What was he wearing?

Murdoc stopped himself before he imagined what Stuart wore to bed. He didn't need to know that and if some day he did, he'd gladly wait for that day to come because now wasn't a great time.

Murdoc sat on the edge of the sidewalk. He didn't want to worry about anything right now. He just wanted to relax and let his mind roam free. Of course, these days when he let his mind roam free, it always seemed to limit itself to thinking about Stuart.

He didn't know how he was feeling about Stuart. No, he did know. He knew that he liked Stuart in another way, a way he hadn't ever liked anyone. But he knew he couldn't tell him. There was generally always a 50% chance that someone would like you back and a 50% chance they'd reject you, but in this case, there was a 100% chance that he would get rejected. Stuart didn't seem to see him in any other way than as a friend, which bothered Murdoc even more. He'd rather have Stuart be indifferent towards him than seeing him as "just a friend".

Murdoc sighed and stood up from the concrete. It had only been a while since he had arrived but he was already sure he wanted to leave. Murdoc walked back home, feeling frustrated with all the trouble Stuart had brought him emotionally.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart turned to look at the time. It was already twelve o'clock which meant he'd get less sleep than usual. He turned back to look at his progress on the small plush. After jabbing his fingers with the sewing needle multiple times, he had finally reached a close end to the plush. Stuart had gone with a sky blue colored penguin. He had stuffed it's head and torso with cotton but it's flippers and feet had been stuffed with bean bag filling.

Stuart felt proud of his plushie, so much so that he almost wanted to keep it for himself, but he knew it'd be better off with Murdoc keeping it. He sighed a dreamy sigh as he pictured how he'd hand Murdoc the penguin plushie. Stuart finished closing the seams in the back of the penguin's tail and cut the string with scissors. Finally finished.

Stuart yawned and checked the time again. It'd only been a few minutes but he already felt twice as tired since he had last checked the time. He placed the plush on his desk and turned off his lamp, preparing for sleep.

That night, Stuart had a dream in which hundreds of penguin plushies were picking at the tips of his fingers and instead of blood, a long blue ribbon came out of his cuts.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart woke up early only because of his strange dream. He checked the time and saw it was a quarter past six. He stretched and yawned, sitting up in bed with the curtains on his window creating a pastel pink shade in his entire room. Stuart got out of bed and searched for something to wear for the school day. When he turned to look at his desk, Stuart saw the plushie and remembered Murdoc. Right, he was supposed to give it to him today.

Stuart searched for his best clothes in his closet. He wanted to look nice today when he was giving Murdoc his present. Stuart picked out his panda-printed long sleeve shirt. He hadn't worn it since he had gone to a New Year's party with his parents and he had been looking for an excuse to wear it again since. He slipped into the white shirt and smiled and how soft and warm the cloth felt. Stuart put on a pair of jeans and his blue and white sneakers.

He looked at himself in the mirror and mentally 'aww'ed at himself. Sure, the dark bruises around his eyes were still very prominent and his most recent scars still hadn't completely healed, but he felt pretty, nevertheless. Stuart checked the time on his phone, a quarter to seven. He wouldnt have time to put on all the make up and just skipped it.

He went to his desk and carefully placed the plush toy in a small and colorful gift box. Stuart quickly tied a golden ribbon around the box but didn't put it in his backpack. He didn't want to risk ruining the small box and kept it tucked under his arm as he ran out the door, backpack swinging from one shoulder.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart crossed the street and walked through the main school gate. He checked the time again, half past seven. He rushed into the building and went up the stairs, maybe he shouldn't have stayed back petting those stray dogs while getting here. Stuart didn't know if he was going to see Murdoc in the library again, but he hoped for the best. As he opened up the library door, he heard several books tumble to the ground. He knew _someone_ had to be in there.

Stuart peaked over to where the sound came from and, sure enough, Murdoc was in there, picking up the books he had dropped.

"Good morning!", Stuart said. Murdoc turned to look at him and smiled. He placed the books on top of the shelf and walked towards a table in the center of the the library. Stuart followed him and sat across from him.

"How'd you know I was here?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart shrugged. "I didn't, I just assumed you might be in here. Why _are_ you here?"

Murdoc sighed. "It's a form of punishment. I got in trouble in my math class so I was told to put the library books in order."

Stuart didn't ask what he'd gotten in trouble for, he figured it'd be a bit rude. Instead, he pushed the small box forward in Murdoc's direction. Murdoc looked down at the box and then back up at Stuart.

"What's that?"

Stuart smiled and scooted closer to the table. "A gift."

Stuart cleared his throat. "When the teacher said all those nice things about your memoir, I...felt a little jealous since I had worked on it," Stuart explained, "But when you told me you had to pull an all-nighter's, I felt bad for thinking all that and to make up for it, I made this for you."

Murdoc looked down at the small box and sighed. "You didn't have to do this. Literally. _I_ was supposed to bring something for you and I completely forgot, so I can't accept it."

Stuart frowned but insisted. "It's okay, if you accept this gift then that'll settle it. I'll take your gratitude as a form of payment," he smiled.

Murdoc hesitated but opened up the box. He grinned as he took out the small plush. "Where'd you buy this? It looks really neat," Murdoc said.

Stuart blushed. "Well, actually I made it. I learned in my Home Economics class."

Murdoc widened his eyes as he admired the small penguin. "You made this? This looks professional! I can't take it, you must've worked on it for weeks."

"Actually, I made it just yesterday. It's not like it's hard to do, it's just a lot of sewing and stuffing," Stuart said. Murdoc smiled and looked back up at him.

"I still feel like I should give you something in return," he said.

Stuart shook his head quickly, "Not at all! It's okay, I'm just glad you liked it."

Stuart stopped shaking his head and scratched the back of his head. "Well, actually, there is _one_ thing you could do..."

Murdoc looked up at him. "What is it?"

Stuart looked away and mumbled, "Well...a hug would be nice..."

"A what?"

"I-I mean, a n-nothing!", Stuart stammered. He got up and was about to leave when he felt Murdoc grab his wrist.

"If there's anything I could do, I'll be glad to do it," Murdoc said, staring into Stuart's eyes. "I'll give you three seconds to do it. One, two..."

Stuart blushed and took a deep and shaky breath. Murdoc pulled on Stuart's wrist, bringing him into a hug. Stuart felt his face burning as Murdoc's hand rubbed his back. For some reason, this hug made him feel different than the one he had received when Murdoc saved him from his bullies. His heart was racing and his breaths were no where near catching up with that speed.

Murdoc let go of Stuart and Stuart stepped back a bit. He laughed nervously and gulped. "W-Wow..."

Murdoc frowned and raised a brow. "It's not what you wanted?"

"No, no, no! It was great, I liked it," Stuart said. "It was just...really sudden," he laughed.

Murdoc smiled back at him. "We could do it again." Stuart tucked his hair behind his ear and began leaning in for another hug when...

RIIING!

Stuart looked up at the alarm and stepped back. "I gotta get to class now..."

"Yeah," Murdoc sighed. "See you in writing." 

"Bye...M-Muds," Stuart called as he left the room. The door shut behind him and Murdoc smiled at his new nickname. He felt heavenly as he sat back down at his table. He picked up the plush penguin and smelled it. It smelled like Stuart. Murdoc put it inside his backpack and got up again to continue organizing the library books in alphabetical order.

°°°•••°°°•••

When Stuart reached his second period, he saw Noodle was already seated in her desk. Stuart walked to the desk and greeted her as he sat down. She nodded and responded with a quiet "Hello".

Stuart spent the rest of the class remembering the hug. He wasn't completely convinced yet, but there was a chance Murdoc really did like him back. He thought about what a nice couple they'd be. If things went right, Stuart would not only say "Good morning" to Murdoc but also "Goodnight".

_Woah_ , thought Stuart. He couldn't get ahead of himself like that. Stuart hid his blushed face with his backpack and tried erasing the image from his mind.

°°°•••°°°•••

Murdoc was constantly checking the time. He knew Sophomores had their free period after four classes, which meant it started at eleven o'clock. Murdoc had to stay in the library the rest of the day as punishment, but he was still allowed his free period, which started right after Stuart's. He had to find a way to meet up with Stuart, which meant he would have to find out what Stuart's fifth period was in order to visit him during his own free period.

Murdoc groaned as he saw the clock didn't seem to be moving at all. He was itching for the sound of the bell to echo throughout the large room and finally have his chance to see Stuart again.

Murdoc kept his eyes on the clock. It almost looked like it _really_ wasn't moving. He squinted to see the second-hand better and sure enough, the clock had stayed frozen at exactly nine twenty-four with thirteen seconds. Murdoc was digging through his backpack for his phone to see the real time. Ten fifty-eight. Murdoc furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Why hadn't he heard any of the other bells signal the end of class? He felt steam over his head as his anger built up.

Murdoc was about to slam his backpack against the table when he heard the bell ringing faintly outside of the library. He sighed and tried calming down. Murdoc packed up all his belongings into his backpack and walked towards the exit.

Just as he opened the door, he head butted right into someone coming into the library.

"Oh, for the love of--", Murdoc growled. He looked up and saw Stuart at the door looking back at him in shock.

°°°•••°°°•••

"So they really didn't let you out of the library the whole day?", Stuart asked. Murdoc took a bite of the orange chicken Stuart had brought. Originally, it was Stuart's lunch but he offered it to Murdoc when he heard he hadn't eaten all day and saw he had only kept a water bottle with him all day.

"Basically. But it's not too bad, I got to skip some of my least favorite classes," Murdoc said as he chewed on the food. Stuart gave him a worried expression and sighed.

"It should be illegal for teachers to keep students locked in all day like that," Stuart said, crossing his arms in front of him.

"I know right? Can you pass me that sauce?", Murdoc said as he pointed at a plastic container next to Stuart. Stuart handed it to him, smiling and all.

Murdoc heard a sigh come from the end of the table. It was that friend of Stuart's, Russel.

"What's up with him, by the way?", Murdoc whisper-shouted as he weakly waved the fork in Russel's direction.

Stuart leaned in and whispered in the same tone, "He just thinks I shouldn't hang out with you."

"I can hear everything you're saying," Russel said, his nose still in his book. Murdoc glared at him but turned back to Stuart. "Why would he say _that_?", Murdoc asked as he took another mouthful of the chicken, now dipped in sauce.

Stuart shrugged. "Anyway, I've been thinking and maybe we should hang out after school one of these days?"

"Don't we do that everyday?", Murdoc laughed as he dipped another bite of chicken into the sauce.

"Well, yeah but...I was thinking something more...formal."

Murdoc gulped down the food and stared at Stuart. He seemed really nervous and sheepish. Murdoc was confused at first but then realized Stuart's point could've flown right over his head. Was he asking him out on a date?

"Oh, like a...", Murdoc began, but stopped himself before he said what came to mind. "...movie...? Like, a walk in the park or something like that?"

Stuart smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I guess something like that would be nice."

Murdoc pretended to think about it and nodded. "Sure, when?"

Stuart stopped smiling and put a hand to his own face, "Well, I actually...I don't know, when would be good time for you?"

"Anytime could work, I'm free after school every day," Murdoc grinned.

"But...what about your bus?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc froze. _Crap_. He had completely forgotten about the whole bus lie he had told Stuart. "Th-That's...it doesn't matter. The bus comes around lots of times, I can just catch it later."

"Oh, well that's good, I guess," Stuart mumbled, "Are you free tomorrow?"

Murdoc nodded as he chewed on another piece of chicken. "Right after school or do you wanna meet up at a certain time?"

Stuart thought about how his parents would react if he told them he'd leave the house to see a friend. His mother, being as protective of him as she was, would definitely not permit it and his father would find any chance for Stuart to stay home and "not socialize with the wrong class".

"I think it's best we do it as soon as school is out," Stuart said. Murdoc nodded and took a sip of his water bottle.

Stuart stared at Murdoc and blushed slightly. "What is it?", Murdoc asked.

"That water bottle is..."

Murdoc felt his own face heat up. Had he sipped from Stuart's bottle? Did it count as a kiss?

"It's Russel's," Stuart mumbled.

Murdoc felt his heart fall to his stomach. "It's _what_?"

Russel peaked at the two from his book and saw his water bottle in Murdoc's hand.

"Oh, gross, I'm burning that thing!"

Murdoc glared at Russel and was about to get out of his seat before Stuart held him back.

"He was just joking! Right, Russel?!", Stuart shouted.

"No I wasn't. I will literally burn that water bottle and throw the ashes into space."

Stuart glared at Russel as he tightened his grip on Murdoc's jacket sleeve. "It's okay, Murdoc. He didn't really mean it, _right, Russ?_ "

Russel rolled his eyes. "Not at all, your majesty. I was only making a joke which you should learn to take."

Murdoc jumped up in anger but Stuart held him inches away by tugging at his sleeves.

"Why don't you say that to my face, huh?!", Murdoc shouted.

"I just did, didn't I?", Russel said with a blank expression.

"Can we just--"

"Oh, you're real smart, aren't you?!", Murdoc barked.

"You guys, I--"

"Considering I have several classes that moved me up to a Senior year standard, yes, I certainly believe so."

"You're gonna get it _now_!"

" _STOP!!_ "

Murdoc and Russel turned to look at Stuart. He was red in the face and his eyebrows were furrowed. 

"You two fight like little children!", Stuart shouted.

He sighed and picked up his backpack as he began walking out the door. Murdoc glared at Russel one last time before he went after Stuart.

°°°•••°°°•••

As it turned out, Stuart was a quick runner when he needed to be. Murdoc didn't find a trace of him even once after he had left the library. He had asked Russel what Stuart's fifth period was but, as expected, got no answer. He figured he'd have to find out himself and now found himself peaking through all the classrooms in the entire second floor. So far, he had only found trouble by entering rooms where lectures were taking place.

Just as he was giving up, Murdoc cracked opened the door to a rather rowdy reading class. His presence wasn't even known of as he walked in, searching through the multiple faces of the students who were up and about. Murdoc suddenly saw the familiar bright mop of blue hair buried in a desk.

He walked over to the table and saw Stuart had his head down. In front of him was an Asian girl who was coloring in a drawing of a cat wearing a wool sweater. He tapped Stuart's shoulder and waited for a response.

"My notes are getting passed around, ask anyone to see them," Stuart said, muffled by his shirt's sleeve.

"What?"

Stuart looked up and took a moment to recognize Murdoc.

"What--How'd you get in here?!", Stuart gasped. Murdoc was about to answer when he felt something bump into his head. He turned to see the Asian girl holding several colored pencils in her hand, getting ready to throw another one.

He briefly glared at her but turned back to Stuart. "I was looking for you through all these classrooms and I couldn't find you. I was just giving up, actually."

"Well, what do you need?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc paused for a moment. Why _was_ he even here? Was it just for the sake of seeing Stuart?

"I was thinking--" _Bump._ Another colored pencil.

Murdoc tried ignoring it as he continued. "I was thinking about what happened in the library and--" _Bump._

"Can you stop?!", Murdoc shouted at Noodle. She glared at him and prepared to throw a fourth pencil.

"Noodle, um...it's okay," Stuart said. She looked at Stuart and set the pencils down, continuing to color in her picture.

"Why does she only listen to _you_?", Murdoc asked.

"I think she was just scared of you. Anyway, it doesn't matter. You were saying?"

"Right, um...Yeah, the library. Are you still mad at me?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart sighed. "I wasn't mad, I just felt bad you two can't get along. When you two fight, I don't know what side to take and it frustrates me to choose."

Murdoc pulled a chair closer to the table and sat down. "Sorry about that. Are we still on for tomorrow?"

Stuart nodded. "But you should probably get back to the library before you get caught wandering around."

Murdoc shook his head, "It's my free period, I can leave the library."

"Oh...", Stuart said. He looked up at Murdoc then slowly lowered his head again, into his desk. Murdoc watched Stuart's head get buried into his arms and did the same. He peaked at Stuart through a small gap in between his arms. Stuart looked back at him without saying anything. Murdoc kept staring and smiled, to which Stuart smiled back.

"Why are you hiding your head?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart sighed, "It's loud in here."

There was a short pause before Murdoc whispered, "Wanna leave?"

Stuart frowned and leaned in. "Do you mean it seriously?"

"Yeah, you look like you wanna leave, so how about it?"

"Murdoc, I'm not allowed. You can leave since it's your free period but I still have a class to attend," Stuart mumbled.

"Oh, come on. This class is so rowdy that no one would notice if a fire cracker went off in here, why would they catch you leaving?"

"Well...where would we go? I can't enter a Junior-Year class if there's teachers in there," Stuart said.

"Yeah, but...", Murdoc started. Stuart was right, there were hardly any empty rooms at this time of the day since Junior-Year teachers were still in their classrooms and the library was surely packed with students studying. Murdoc grinned as he suddenly had an idea.

"But we can enter if the classroom is empty."


	4. Chapter 4

"I don't think we should be doing this, Murdoc...", Stuart whispered.

"It's fine, no one ever goes in here," Murdoc responded.

Murdoc had suggested they go into an unused classroom downstairs. No one ever went in the room since it wasn't ever opened. However, Murdoc had found the key to the room in a bathroom sink during his Freshman year. Since then, he had entered several times every time he needed a place to relax while skipping classes.

Murdoc unlocked the door and opened it up for Stuart to go in first. He looked around the hall to make sure no one was near before he followed Stuart into the class.

He shut the door behind them with the lock and sighed.

"You see? No one will know we're in here."

Stuart observed the room. It looked as if it had been used as a storage room at some point. There were boxes lined up in the back of the room and desks scattered out of order. Chairs were stacked near a window with dusty blinds. The room had a pale yellow shade due to the old window blinds and the slight sunlight outside the room. Stuart noticed a wardrobe-type of furniture near the door big enough for someone to fit in.

"What's that?", Stuart asked, pointing at the furniture.

"It's some built-in closet for the class. There's nothing inside but dust and trash."

Stuart nodded and turned to look at Murdoc. "What now?"

"We could do anything you want," Murdoc said, "You wanna look through the boxes? Trash the room? You choose."

Stuart sighed. "I think I just wanna relax for a bit...".

Stuart sat on top of a desk and looked out the window. Murdoc sat on a desk next to him and caught glimpses of Stuart's peaceful face. Stuart looked beautiful with the yellow light of the room reflecting on his pale skin. Murdoc felt his heart pounding in his chest. He wanted to just lean in and kiss Stuart right then and there. Stuart turned to look at him and smiled.

"Is there anything _you_ wanna do?", Stuart asked.

Oh, _man_ was there so much he wanted to do.

"I think we should just relax," Murdoc said as he walked over to Stuart. Stuart felt his face heat up as Murdoc sat on the same desk as his. He felt Murdoc shift his hand closer to his and flinched at his touch.

"Um, Murdoc?"

"What is it?"

Stuart gulped. "Wh-What are you doing?"

Murdoc lifted his hand up to Stuart's head and playfully messed with his hair. "We're friends, right? Friends do that type of thing."

"Right...", Stuart mumbled, "A-Anyway, I think we should go back. I don't wanna stay away long enough for the teacher to notice I'm gone."

Murdoc sighed, "Fine, I guess we can--"

There was a sudden jangling at the door. The door handle was shaking as the sound of keys was muffled through the heavy door.

Both turned to the door and looked back at each other.

"I thought you said no one used this room!", Stuart hissed.

"Well yeah but I didn't think the school had a spare key!"

Murdoc jumped off the desk and scanned the room for a hiding place.

"The closet!", Stuart whispered.

"Right!"

Murdoc opened the door to the closet for Stuart. Stuart walked in and squeezed to the edge. Murdoc looked in. It was extremely small and he didn't know if he'd fit.

Murdoc pushed himself in and shut the door. It was a really tight fit even when he was standing up, he was face-to-face and pressed up against Stuart. Stuart's chest was rising up and down quickly in panic. There was almost no light other than the bit of sunlight peaking through a hole in the door. They heard the door open and footsteps pass right in front of them.

Stuart held his breath and hid his face in Murdoc's shoulder, placing his hands on his chest. Murdoc looked down at him and saw he was trembling wildly. Murdoc raised his hand and rubbed Stuart's back. He looked through the door's hole and caught a glimpse of what looked like a janitor in the room. Murdoc rested his head on the wall and peered down at Stuart.

He heard the man outside moving several boxes around. He heard his footsteps getting closer to the closet door. He winced as he prepared for the door to fling open and for both of them to be caught. There was a long and suspenseful silence. He shut his eyes tight and waited for any sound outside. Nothing.

He heard the footsteps get near the exit. The door clicked open, signaling the exit of the man. They were safe at last.

"ACHOO!!"

Murdoc jumped and stared down at Stuart. His face had gone completely white and full of fear.

"Who's there?!"

Stuart gulped and tightened his grip on Murdoc's sweater. They were definitely caught now.

The man stomped to the the back of the room where the boxes were. "Come out!"

Murdoc took a deep breath and looked down at Stuart. Stuart looked back up at him with absolute fear and mouthed "Sorry". If they were to escape, now would be the perfect chance.

Murdoc mentally counted down. One...two...

He pushed open the door and pulled Stuart out with him by the wrist. As he rushed out the door, he heard the man yelling after them. His legs were trembling as he sprinted up the stairs. Stuart was panting by the time they reached the second floor. They ran into a nearby bathroom, slamming the door closed. They leaned against the wall and caught their breath.

"That was close...", Murdoc panted. He turned to look at Stuart who was starting to tear up. Oh no.

Stuart walked up to Murdoc and threw weak punches at his chest as he sobbed, "We could've been caught!"

Murdoc couldn't help but to laugh at Stuart's angry reaction. No matter how hard he tried, Stuart would never look menacing in the least.

Stuart stopped and wiped away his tears. He looked up at Murdoc and cracked a smile. Murdoc stared at him, completely dumbfounded.

Stuart burst into laughter and slapped the sink. Murdoc smiled and started laughing along with Stuart, completely unaware of what was so funny.

°°°•••°°°•••

The two had decided they'd spend the rest of the school day in the bathrooms, after all, there was only under an hour left. There wasn't anyone entering the bathroom, which they found to be shocking. They took this time to talk about anything and everything from their classes to their hobbies.

"I never told anyone this but...my dad was sort of...rough on me as a kid," Murdoc said.

Stuart looked at him and frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah, I never met my mom and my older brother left last year. No idea where he went but...I miss him. He was a dick himself but...he didn't let our dad hit either of us."

Stuart sighed. "I didn't really meet my father until some time ago. Now that he's back all he does is take advantage of my mom's hospitality. I guess that in a way I can understand how you feel, being raised with one parent."

Murdoc widened his eyes. "You didn't know your dad?"

Stuart shook his head. "But I can't say I hate that he returned. This is the happiest I've seen my mom in the last sixteen years."

Murdoc turned back around and thought through Stuart's answer. Maybe they could really become something. Murdoc was about to tell him when the bell rang loudly. Stuart stood up and picked up his backpack. Murdoc did the same and walked out of the bathroom with Stuart. He turned to shut the door and read a paper sign on the door.

"Out of Order"

 

°°°•••°°°•••

Murdoc had decided to drop Stuart off at his house again. After doing so, he walked back to the school's main entrance. He was feeling more than content with life. He knew it was soon, but he was sure he could confess to Stuart during their semi-date the next day. He had so much in common with the other and Stuart had shown interest more than once. It was all very rushed, but he felt it was the right thing to do.

He walked to the park near the school. As he was heading to a bench, he overheard a blonde and a noirette girl talking.

"I'm so glad the weekend arrived," one of them said. 

"I know! I didn't think I'd make it past this week with all those annoying assholes in our Home Economics class," the blonde answered.

"Well, they weren't all too bad," the other said. "Like, Stu is a pretty great guy."

Murdoc glared at them as he scooted closer to listen.

"That guy with the blue hair? He seems like he's super childish, though."

"I know, but isn't it a bit endearing? I mean, did you see his panda shirt? It was so cute and seemed like something he would totally do," the dark-haired girl laughed.

"You're so weird."

The two laughed and proceeded to talk about their math class.

Murdoc felt extremely angry. How could they talk about his Stuart like that? And his name was Stuart, not "Stu". They didn't know him the way he knew him for them to call him that. He used all his willpower to keep himself from going over there and just shouting at them.

Murdoc sighed and stomped out of the park, leaving behind the two girls.

Maybe he was being overprotective of the other boy, but something about those girls seeing him in such a...romanticized way was really grinding his gears.

°°°•••°°°•••

When Stuart got home from school, he went into his room and hugged his pillow. He had been as close to Murdoc as he was to that pillow. He squealed in delight as he remembered it. Sure, it was terrifying that he had been hiding from a teacher but it was thrilling that it was Murdoc who he was hiding with.

Stuart tightened his grip on the pillow and remembered how Murdoc had been rubbing his back in the closet. He had felt scared and Murdoc had tried making him feel better. If there was a better way to demonstrate love, Stuart had never heard of it. He wanted to hug Murdoc again, just to feel that safety he had never felt with anyone. His heart was pounding and he shut his eyes as he tried recreating the scenario with the pillow.

Stuart was squeezing the pillow with all his strength. His eyes were squeezed shut and he rocked himself on the bed back and forth.

While doing so, he went a bit too far and felt the pillow slipping off the bed. He stayed clutching it and fell to the floor with it, landing on his foot while he did.

"O-OOOWW!"

Stuart rubbed his foot to try and comfort it. He could feel tears begin to form in his eyes. He could swear he had heard something pop when he landed. Stuart was so lost in his own pain, he didn't realize just how loud he had yelled.

His mom burst into the room. "What's wrong?!"

Stuart looked up at her. She looked down and paused to process what he was doing.

Her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw how he was hugging the pillow.

"What are you..."

"No, no, no! I-It's not what it looks like, I was just--"

Stuart tried getting up but accidentally put all his weight on his hurt foot.

"OOWW, FFF--"

Stuart was crawling towards his mom when she stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut. He fell right where he was but sat up again. He glared at the pillow.

Stupid pillow. Stuart kicked it away in a fit of anger, again, with the wrong foot.

He didnt even yell at that point. Stuart puffed his cheeks and blew put slowly. All that he had just done was a terrible idea. Stuart crawled back onto his bed and sat by the window.

He moved his curtain to see what was outside. It was starting to get dark. He would generally shower at this point, but he didn't even bother and instead covered himself completely in his blanket and turned off the lights.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart got out of bed at six and changed into a white collar shirt and denim jeans. He put a pale yellow jacket on and prepared his backpack.

He had to remember to look nice if he was going to meet up with Murdoc at the end of the day.

Stuart went into the kitchen and took out a bowl to serve himself cereal in. Just as he was pouring it, he heard the door to his mother's room open.

She walked in, still half asleep and looked at Stuart with great confusion.

"Why are you up so early?! It's seven in the morning!"

Stuart continued pouring his cereal and laughed. "I have to get to school, remember?"

She paused for a moment then crossed her arms. "Stuart. Today's Saturday."

Stuart froze in place.

"You don't have any classes."

Stuart looked at the calendar and saw Friday was crossed out. Seriously?

Stuart gulped. "Yeah, I know that...It's just that I have...Saturday school."

"You do? What teacher told you to go?"

Stuart fidgeted with his fingers. "My-My writing teacher."

"I thought she had given you good grades the whole year?"

Stuart shrugged. "She invited me for an- um - a gifted students party. She's bringing...pancakes."

"Pancakes?"

Stuart nodded.

"Alright then. When do you get back?"

"Umm...at twelve o'clock."

"Wow. That's...a lot for a Saturday school day."

Stuart laughed nervously and started walking out the door.

"Stuart, wait."

Stuart turned around, scared of what she had to say.

She lifted his backpack. "You wouldn't want to forget this."

Stuart walked over and grabbed his backpack. "Thanks...Well, bye now!"

Stuart stepped out of his house and closed the door behind him. He stayed standing at the doorway. Where was he supposed to go?

He didn't have any way to contact Murdoc since he hadn't ever given him his phone number. Stuart then thought it'd be a little too personal to share phone numbers when they were just friends. But then again, fantasizing with a pillow pretending it was his friend wasn't something "just friends" did either. Stuart cringed as he remembered everything that had happened that night.

He walked towards the school building, knowing that Murdoc was most likely not going to be there. Besides, it's not like he could just go back home now since he had told his mom he'd be back by twelve. That meant he had to find something to do for the next six hours. Stuart was about to cross the street when he saw the park behind him. Maybe he could wait there.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart sat on the swings near a large tree. He looked down at the sand as it glittered with the sunlight peaking from behind him. He didn't know if Murdoc would even arrive in the first place. He stayed seated, slowly pushing himself with his feet. He moved back and forth on the swing. It was a truly depressing sight to see him all alone on a kids' swing set.

Stuart took out his phone and looked through all the images, deleting those he didn't need so he could make room in his storage. When he finished that, Stuart updated his digital diary and read the new chapters for a horror webcomic he'd found online. He scrolled lazily through all the frames. Once he finished, he put his phone away and took out his reading notes to refresh his memory.

By the time he was done reviewing, it had been an hour already. Stuart sighed and sat back on the swing. It was barely eight o'clock and he already wanted to call it quits. He was about to get up when he saw two hands cover his eyes. Stuart jumped and held tightly onto the swing.

"I don't have any money, please don't hurt me!", Stuart cried.

"What?!"

Stuart lifted the hands off his face and looked back. "Murdoc?!"

Murdoc let out a laugh and walked over to be in front of Stuart.

"You came! Why? I mean...how?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc sighed. "Well, I only realized today would be a Saturday until yesterday after school. I assumed no one told you so I came anyway, just to make sure."

Stuart laughed and rubbed his right shoulder. "So, how'd you get here?"

Murdoc stopped and smiled at Stuart. "That's the fun part. Follow me."

°°°•••°°°•••

"Wow! It's yours?!", Stuart asked. He was admiring Murdoc's car by looking through one of its windows.

"Yeah. I earned enough money to get one, so I went yesterday to get it."

"It's so pretty!", Stuart said. Murdoc rolled his eyes.

"It's not a new model or anything, so don't get too excited."

Stuart looked back at Murdoc. "I still like it. When can I get on it with you?"

Murdoc had to make a double take with Stuart's question. He processed his question then laughed. "Even I barely wanna get on, you think I'll let anyone else ride it?"

Stuart dropped his shoulders and stopped smiling. "That's okay, I guess."

"Anyway, let's walk around for a bit."

Stuart nodded and joined Murdoc as he began walking on the sidewalk.

°°°•••°°°•••

"Stuart."

He looked at Murdoc. "Mm?"

"Do you know this girl with black hair that's in your Home Economics class?"

Stuart looked up and thought about it. "Uhhh...there's a lot of girls like that look like that in my class."

Murdoc sighed. "She's kinda tall and really pale. I think she wears make up and always hangs out with this blonde chick."

Stuart tapped his chin and then smiled. "I know who you're talking about. It's Paula, isn't it?"

"I don't know her name, that's why I was asking," Murdoc said.

"Yeah, that's definitely Paula. What about her?"

Murdoc shrugged. "Just wondering...do you like her?"

Stuart slowed down and looked at Murdoc, rather perplexed.

"Because it looks like she likes you. A lot," Murdoc added.

Stuart blushed. "R-Really? Did she tell you? If she told you, then tell her I--"

Murdoc stopped dead on his tracks, looking down.

"Um, Murdoc?"

Stuart approached Murdoc slowly. "Are you okay?"

Murdoc looked up and sniffed. "Yeah, why?"

Stuart frowned but didn't say anything. He felt something off about Murdoc. He started walking again and Stuart followed him.

"You know, I can ask her out for you. You two can date and be little high school sweethearts."

Stuart wasn't sure, but he thought he was catching on to Murdoc's real emotions.

"Nah", Stuart said, looking straight ahead. Through his peripheral view, he could see Murdoc turned to look at him.

"Seriously? Why not?", Murdoc asked, "Do you prefer to admire from far away?"

Stuart shrugged. "I just don't like her like that. She's nice but a little too extreme for me. Besides, she prefers guys who can actually defend themselves."

Murdoc took a deep breath. "Her loss, I guess."

Stuart sighed. "I already have someone else in mind anyway."

Murdoc glanced at him but then looked straight ahead again. Stuart could almost swear he had seen Murdoc turn at least one shade of red brighter in the face.

°°°•••°°°•••

When the clock marked eleven o'clock, Stuart sighed and shifted in his seat.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, I told my mom that I'd be back by twelve and that means we only have an hour left before I have to go home."

Murdoc looked down in disappointment but was quick to look back up. Stuart was scratching at the wooden bench with little interest.

"Stuart."

"Mm?", Stuart hummed without looking up.

"If I tell you something...you promise you won't get weirded out?"

Stuart looked up at him and leaned in. "What is it?"

"First answer, do you promise you won't get weirded out?"

"I promise, I promise," Stuart mumbled.

Murdoc took a deep breath and avoided looking into Stuart's eyes.

"I...kind of...like you."

Stuart felt his heart stop for what seemed like an eternity. He didn't move a muscle as he looked at Murdoc. "Like...in a friendly way?"

Murdoc lowered his stare and shook his head. "In a...a different way."

Stuart felt faint as he said those last few words. His heart was throbbing but his mind had stopped completely. Stuart's eye twitched slightly.

"I know it's weird, you can just...just forget I--"

"I...I like you too."

Murdoc stopped and widened his eyes. "In...in a friendly way?"

Stuart shook his head. "In...a different way."

"O-Oh," Murdoc cleared his throat. "Wait, seriously?"

Stuart smiled and scooted closer to Murdoc. "I told you I had someone else in mind."

Murdoc looked away and scratched the back of his head, "Oh, right..."

Stuart laughed and tapped his fingers on the wooden table. Murdoc looked at his hands and reached out for them. Stuart stopped tapping his fingers and stared at him in surprise.

Murdoc grabbed his hand and they interlocked fingers, Murdoc was still smiling and a little red in the face. Stuart blushed but didn't break eye contact. He saw Murdoc leaning in for... a kiss?

Stuart suddenly entered into a state of panic. He felt his lip twitching as he started leaning in too. He had never kissed anyone in his life before and now the opportunity had come so quickly he didn't have time to prepare. Stuart was glad Murdoc had shut his eyes at that point so he didn't have to see him trembling. He went in for it and barely brushed his lips against the other's.

Murdoc opened his eyes and looked at Stuart. "You're supposed to close your eyes, Stuart."

"Oh..."

Murdoc chuckled but leaned in again, stronger this time. Stuart had now closed his eyes and only felt Murdoc's lips on his. Kissing wasn't as hard as he thought it'd be.

Just as he was getting used to the feeling, he felt Murdoc's tongue try slipping into his mouth. He jumped back and cupped his hand over his mouth.

"What's wrong?", Murdoc asked.

"Y-Your tongue...it was entering m-my mouth..."

Murdoc sighed and held back a laugh. "Stuart, you don't just rub your face into someone else's when your kissing."

On second thought, kissing was much more complex than he thought.

"But it's okay. If you want, we can limit kisses to just pecks," Murdoc said.

Stuart nodded and scooted closer again. "So...that means we'll do this again? As in...we're, you know..."

"Dating. I guess so...", Murdoc said. Stuart took a deep breath and relaxed.

He was feeling so many things at once that he thought he might just pop from holding it all in. Stuart felt scared but also happy. He was nervous but confident at the same time. When he had kissed Murdoc, he felt as though he was on a cloud.

"You wanna keep walking around for a bit?"

Stuart paused to think and then nodded. They could both use this time to organize their emotions.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart took out his phone. Only fifteen minutes until twelve.

"Murdoc, I'm gonna have to be leaving soon..."

Murdoc turned to look at him and smiled, despite looking slightly hurt. "It's alright, let's get going near the exit, then."

Stuart followed Murdoc through the green grass. He passed by the bushes he had hidden in when those bullies had attacked him. Stuart picked up his pace and caught up to Murdoc.

"Murdoc can you...can you walk me home?"

Murdoc looked at him for a second but then nodded. He didn't want to risk Stuart going on his own, even though it wasn't too late in the day.

They walked through the street and eventually reached the familiar community which was only two or three blocks away from the park.

"Thanks," Stuart smiled as he began walking home. Unable to resist, Murdoc reached out for Stuart's wrist and pulled him into a nearby alley. Stuart looked at him in shock but still followed him. When they got there, Murdoc was still holding Stuart's wrist.

"What is it?"

Murdoc stared into his eyes and pulled him in close. He placed a hand on Stuart's waist and leaned in for another kiss. Stuart didn't go against it but didn't let his mouth open for Murdoc's tongue to enter either. Murdoc used all his force to not slip his tongue into Stuart's mouth, but it wasn't easy when all his instincts told him to do it.

His hand made its way down to Stuart's bottom. Just as it did, Stuart jumped out of his reach and he looked at him in disbelief.

Murdoc blinked and brought himself back to Earth. Stuart was shaking a bit and was staring at him with a hint of fear.

"Stuart, I'm sorry, I got carried away, but..."

Stuart stepped back and mumbled, "Where were you touching..."

Murdoc facepalmed and walked towards him. "I'm sorry, that was way too much. If I made you uncomfortable, I just wanna let you know I'm not usually like that."

Stuart nodded but stepped back further. "I think...I think I'll go home now..."

"Y-Yeah..."

Stuart stepped out of the alley and he was gone. Murdoc cursed at himself for doing that. He had probably ruined his relationship with Stuart forever and on the very first day of it. He began walking back to the park to get his car, where he could comfortably mourn the death of his relationship.

°°°•••°°°•••

As he was walking back to his car from a convinience store, he heard chuckling from behind him. Murdoc stopped and turned around. It was Stuart's bullies.

"Hey, we saw you hanging out with Stuart. Is he your _boyfriend_?", one of them asked, stretching out the last word.

"No. He's not."

The three laughed and walked with Murdoc. "That's lucky cause we got something to tell you."

Murdoc looked at them with disinterest but didn't enter his car yet.

"Stuart is our prey, you got it? So don't go thinking you can protect him every time we wanna pick a little fun at him."

Murdoc glared at them but didn't say anything in return.

"We know you wanna try and play the role of the hero, so I'll get to it. Here's the deal; we're going to limit our jokes on Stuart to name-calling and you are going to ignore it. If you choose to be a personal guard, we're going to go all out on him."

Murdoc was itching to punch one of them right in their big gross faces. How dare they try to convince him to do that?

"Listen, this is convenient for you and for us. We've left people hospitalized before and we're not afraid to do it again."

Murdoc finally snapped and threw a punch directly at the one who had been doing all the talking. He fell back on the pavement and his two buddies went to pick him up.

He held his nose and saw it was bleeding. "You know what you've done now?! Stuart's gonna be so dead after this, you're gonna regret it!"

The three ran off into the distance and Murdoc turned around and got into his car. Maybe Stuart couldn't love him again after what he'd done earlier in the alley, but that didn't mean _he'd_ love him any less. Murdoc was willing to stand up for Stuart and no gang of idiots was going to stop him.


	5. Chapter 5

Murdoc had been waiting to meet up with Stuart in school so he could confront him about the alley incident. He didn't want to leave things as they were with Stuart, he just had to find a way to see him and talk to him. He didn't have his phone number, so calling was out of the question. He couldn't show up at his house since Stuart had told him how protective his parents were. Simply put, all he could do was wait for the weekend to be over.

Murdoc had taken advantage of having a car now and used it whenever he tried leaving his house. Of course, he never parked it near his house because his father didn't know he even had a car. He often left it in an empty house across their street, that way he could keep an eye on it but also keep it far away enough to not raise suspicions.

When the weekend was finally over, Murdoc had waited for Stuart in the library before school. He sat at the library the entire hour before class started but didn't see him. He assumed Stuart might still be mad at him and figured he'd wait until Stuart's free period to go find him.

During Stuart's free period, Murdoc had snuck into the library where Russel was reading. Of course, Russel didn't have any answers either.

~~~

"Where's Stuart?"

Russel looked up at him and rolled his eyes. "He's not here today."

Murdoc stopped and stared at Russel. "He's not here?"

"No and I don't know why so don't ask me."

Murdoc left the library room and went back into his math class, still keeping Stuart on his mind.

~~~

An entire week had almost passed since then. He hadn't seen Stuart even once for a total of five days, including the weekend, and Russel hadn't heard anything from him either. 

It was a Wednesday afternoon, class was out and he had waited long enough. Murdoc didn't care what happened to him at this point, he was going to find Stuart and make sure he was safe. He walked to Stuart's street and clutched his backpack tightly. He wasn't used to seeing so many neighbors out of their houses all at once and avoided the stares they were throwing at him.

When he reached Stuart's front yard, he hesitated to get to the doorway. He knew that he'd have to make up some sort of lie for Stuart's parents to let him in. He figured he'd tell them that he was just going to give him the week's homework, they'd let him in if it was an academic thing, right?

Murdoc made his way to the doorstep and was about to knock when he heard a lady call at him.

"Hey!"

Murdoc turned to where the sound came from and saw it was one of the neighbors.

"They're not home, honey. You're looking for Mr. and Mrs. Pot, right?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Sorry, they're not home. In fact, they've been gone since the morning."

"Oh," Murdoc said, "Do you know when they'll be back?"

"They've been leaving early in the morning and coming back very late at night since Monday. I wouldn't wait if I were you."

Murdoc sighed. He was about to walk away when he heard the woman call him again.

"I believe they've been going to the hospital. I heard their son Stuart got injured or something. His mother hasn't stopped crying since she heard about it."

Murdoc turned to look at her. "Which hospital?"

"I believe it's the...Oh! The Lakewood Hospital, it's downtown."

Murdoc ran out of the yard and down the street. He crossed the road and sprinted to his street. He couldn't waste any more time. If Stuart was really hospitalized, he couldn't sit back and hope he was getting better. He needed to see him and know he was getting better.

As he was crossing the street, he caught a glimpse of his car. He felt relief to know it was still there, considering people didn't know anything about minding their own business in that street.

Murdoc got in and started the engine up as soon as he settled in his seat.

°°°•••°°°•••

As he was parking in front of the building, Murdoc saw various ambulances rushing into the emergency building. He shivered at the possibility of Stuart being in one of those a few days ago.

He got out of the car and rushed towards the hospital's entrance. Upon entering, Murdoc saw the entire room was white. The waiting room chairs and furniture was a white that almost glowed with the bright lights over his head. The reception counter was white but with a marble pattern. The nurses were walking all around the waiting room, too busy arriving to their destinations to even bat an eye at anything around them.

Murdoc walked up to the counter and cleared his throat. The woman in a tight bun looked up at him from the monitor screen.

"What do you need?"

"Are visiting hours still open?"

She looked at a sign inside her cubicle. "They're open until midnight today."

Murdoc sighed in relief. "Do you know what room Stuart Pot is in?"

The woman turned back at her computer. She clicked several times then scrolled through a list. "Pot?"

Murdoc nodded.

"He's in...room 721. Upstairs, take a left and then a right. It should be next to an ocean mural with a blue whale."

Murdoc thanked her and sprinted up the stairs. A left and then a right. Murdoc turned to the hallway at his left and saw a blue mural in the distance of the hall to the right. He ran to the hallway and read the numbers of the rooms. 718, 719, 720...

721.

Murdoc was about to open the door when he heard a voice inside the room. It sounded like a child. He entered and saw the room was empty, with the exception of a curtain and usual hospital decorations. The only sound now was the beeping of the heart monitor.

The tall, pale blue curtain hid the bed in which Stuart was. There were counters and cupboards on the side and a small bedside table with a vase of flowers. He hesitated but opened the curtain.

When he peaked in, he saw Stuart laying back on the white bed. The many blankets were tucked up to his waist and his hands were at his side. He had several needles in his wrists which connected him to many appliances. Murdoc looked up at his face and gasped.

Stuart's eyes were bandaged tightly all around his head. It couldn't be... Had Stuart gone blind? Would he never be able to see Murdoc again? Murdoc pulled in a chair and sat beside Stuart. He grabbed his wrist and felt tears filling his eyes.

Murdoc rubbed Stuart's wrist and stared at him. He looked so peaceful. He wasn't trembling or fidgeting his fingers like he always did. He was relaxed. Murdoc sniffed and a single tear rolled down his face. He shut his eyes and buried his face in Stuart's blankets. He felt tears streaming down his face and snot escaping his nose as he took deep and shaky breaths.

Just as he was about to let out a sob, he heard it. Stuart.

He coughed and Murdoc looked up immediately. 

"You're awake..."

He coughed again and tried sitting up.

"Woah, easy there," Murdoc said as he rubbed his eyes to squeeze out every last tear.

"Murdoc?", Stuart's voice was dry and raspy. "Where am I?"

"You're in a hospital. You don't have to get up yet, take it easy."

"A hospital?", Stuart asked. "So it wasn't a dream..."

Murdoc got up to bring Stuart a cup of water from a water dispenser in the corner of the room. "You want water?"

Stuart put a hand to his face and felt the bandages. Bandages? He began panicking and felt his face with his hands now trembling. "I-I can't see..."

Murdoc turned to look at him and walked over. "Stuart, relax, you're going to be fine--"

He heard Stuart's breathing grow increasingly fast as he tried clawing at the bandages.

"No, no, no...", he muttered. Stuart turned in Murdoc's direction, his breathing growing heavier by the second. "M-Murdoc, you gotta help me! Help me take these off! Murdoc!"

Murdoc held back all his emotions as he heard the exasperated boy begin crying. He couldn't do anything to help him which hurt him more than anything. He turned around, facing away from Stuart. Now he could only hear him screaming, his voice cracking with each cry for help.

As he heard his cries growing louder, he couldn't stop himself and grabbed Stuart's arm in hopes of relaxing him. Stuart was still yelling but his kicking had stopped. Murdoc leaned closer to Stuart and hugged him tightly. Stuart's tears were rolling onto Murdoc's shoulder and Murdoc did everything in his power to keep his own tears from escaping.

As he tightened his hug, Stuart stopped screaming and limited himself to sobbing, his voice leaving him and his pulse going back to a normal pace.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart had eventually calmed down and had silently gone back to sleep. Murdoc followed pursuit and tried resting with his head at Stuart's lap, still seated in the cushion chair.

As he was trying to get sleep, he heard the door open and looked up quickly. It was a man and a woman. He assumed they were his parents based on how shocked they were to see someone else in the room.

“Um…who are you?”, the woman asked.

“I’m one of Stuart’s friends from school. I heard he was injured so I…came to see him.”

“We haven’t told anyone about it, how did you know?”, the man grumbled. The woman nudged him in the ribs and shot him a dirty look.

“Sorry, we understand you must be feeling down because of his condition.”

Murdoc cleared his throat. “What happened to him?”

Stuart’s mother sighed. “Two really severe eight-ball fractures, his eyes even sunk back a bit into his skull. He won’t be able to expose his eyes to light for one more day but he’ll still see.”

Murdoc felt relief flow through him. He was glad Stuart would still see but...

“W-What’s an eight-ball fracture?”

“It’s blood. Blood basically flooded his eyes. His eyes will look really dark,” she answered.

Murdoc stayed silent as he turned back at Stuart who was fast asleep. “Oh…”

"How did it happen?", Murdoc asked, "If it's not too personal."

"On Saturday, a neighbor found him in the park near the school, he was...it was an assault."

Murdoc felt his heart sink down into the pit of his stomach. How could he have been in the park? Murdoc would have been with him if he had...

Unless Stuart had tried going back to find him.

Murdoc stopped thinking about it to prevent himself from bawling his eyes out in front of Stuart's parents.

Stuart’s mother sighed. “Would you like to have a moment with him? Alone?”, she asked.

Murdoc paused and nodded. “If I may…”

She smiled bleakly and turned around to leave the room. Her husband did the same and he was left alone with Stuart. He looked at him and held his hand, interlocking fingers.

“Stuart, I know you probably can’t hear me, but…I want you to know that you’re everything I love," Murdoc said, "I don’t want to lose you, but it seems as though that's the only way you can be safe."

Murdoc leaned over to Stuart's face. Just one last time before he had to say goodbye.

Murdoc tilted his head a bit and lightly kissed Stuart. It was short but gentle and a bit dry. He brushed his hand over Stuart's face and gave him one last kiss on the forehead.

"Get rest, 2-D."

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart woke up to the sound of his curtains opening. He couldn't see anything, it was all dark. He tried opening his eyes, but it didn't do much of a difference to try. He put a hand to his face and felt a rough cloth wrapped around him.

"Rise and shine, Stuart."

Stuart hummed to announce he was awake. He heard the man's footsteps approach him.

"Alright, Stuart. I'm gonna need you to sit up for me, okay?"

He tried sitting up by feeling his pillows and bed to get a vague idea of what his surroundings were like. He scooted up against the wall and stopped once he was sitting straight up.

"Perfect. Now let's get that bandage off, okay?"

Stuart had to pause to process what he had said. "You're...You're taking it off now?"

"Yes, it's been four days now since your arrival."

Stuart froze when the doctor said that. " _Four days?!_ "

"That's right," he said as he untied the bandages from behind his head.

"I was supposed to go to school...Oh! I had to meet up with M--", Stuart stopped talking when he realized he had almost spilled his secret.

"With who?"

Stuart gulped. "No one..."

The man began to unwrap Stuart's bandages and he could slowly start making out shapes in front of him. The room didn't seem to be brightly lit, which he was thankful for since he assumed strong lights would hurt his eyes.

"Voilà!"

Stuart saw everything was blurry, but he squinted and blinked into focus. When he did, he saw everything clearly. However, he saw a shadow-like frame in his eyesight.

"Doctor, I still see a bit strange..."

"Oh, can you explain?"

"It's just that there's, like, a frame around my eyes."

"Oh, yes, well, that's to be expected. Your eight-ball fractures will make you see everything like that."

Stuart turned to look at the doctor. "My what?"

"Ah, right. You might wanna see this," he said as he pulled a mirror out of the bedside drawer.

When he put it in front of him, Stuart cupped his hand over his mouth and stared hard at himself.

He had dark, dark eyes. Literally. His entire eyeballs were just two big black marbles. It was almost as if his eyeballs had just been replaced with endless voids. It looked strange and felt even stranger. It was as if he wasn't supposed to be seeing, but he was. He looked up at the doctor in shock.

"Don't worry, we have special eye contacts for you. You can wear those once you get back home."

Stuart nodded but smiled. "It looks kinda freaky..."

"Well, eight-ball fractures aren't not-freaky on their own."

Stuart laughed nervously and lowered his stare.

"A nurse will come in in a few minutes to take you down to the waiting room. From there you'll be free to go back home," the man said as he walked to the door. "Okay?"

Stuart nodded and watched the man exit the room. As soon as he did, Stuart reached for the mirror again. He saw himself and felt the many scars on his face. One black eye was much less noticeable now, but the other seemed to have been made only recently. He sighed and set the mirror back down. He tried recalling what had happened before he had been knocked out cold.

He had no memories at all of the last few days. As much as Stuart thought about it, he couldn't remember anything at all. As he struggled to remember, a vague image suddenly came to his mind.

Had Murdoc gone to visit him during his stay? Stuart could swear he remembered his presence at some point. He remembered a...a kiss.

Stuart decided to drop the idea and figured it had just been a dream. He checked the time and saw it was already three o'clock. He sat at the edge of his bed and tried getting up. When he did, his legs wobbled and he tried balancing himself by holding onto the IV stand which was a terrible idea.

The stand wobbled with him since it had wheels and he ended up crashing back down on the bed, destroying a flower vase while he was at it. When he sat down, he heard a knock at the door. He scrambled into bed and slipped inside the blankets

"C-Come in!"

A nurse with blonde hair went into the room with a notepad. "Stuart?"

Stuart looked up at her and smiled. He really hoped she wouldn't notice the broken vase.

"Your family's come to pick you up."

Stuart sat at the edge of the bed again, if he tried getting up, he'd surely fall to the floor.

"Are you comfortable walking?"

Stuart laughed nervously and shrugged. "I do feel pretty dizzy..."

"Would you like me to go get a wheelchair for you?"

Stuart shook his head. "I-I'm good. I think I'll just walk it off a bit."

She smiled at him and looked back down at her notepad. Stuart tried getting up slowly, he was careful with each movement he made. He held his breath until he was standing up completely. He gave a first step, it was weak and unstable but he grabbed the bed for support. His second step was a bit more sturdy but he still felt his knees were shaky.

The way he was giving each step reminded him of a baby horse wearing high heels. He laughed quietly at that image in his mind.

As he gave the next few steps, he found it easier to walk again. When he made it to the door, he was walking naturally once more. It wasn't hard to do, but he felt proud of himself either way.

°°°•••°°°•••

Once in the waiting room, he saw his mom and dad talking. His mother was holding a bag of clothes and his father was reading a magazine.

He walked over clumsily and he could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on him. He was sure his eyes were the ones that had earned him several gasps. When he stood next to his mother, she was still deep in conversation with his dad.

He cleared his throat and she turned to look at him.

She turned to look at him and let out a cry. Stuart jumped at the scream and widened his eyes. She cleared her throat and looked at him for a second time.

"You look...different."

Stuart nodded slowly, feeling more uncomfortable with the situation than eager to leave.

"Well, don't worry. I've got the eye contacts in the bag, so you can put those on once we get home," she said.

"Right."

"But first, go change in the bathroom over there," she said, handing him the bag, "Don't put on the contacts yet, I don't want you getting hurt while doing it on your own."

Stuart took the bag and walked into the bathroom. He didn't enter a stall but rather just changed in front of the sinks. When he removed the hospital gown, he looked in the mirror and saw he had large bruises all over his stomach. His ribs were extremely noticeable when he stretched enough because of how skinny he was.

He looked into the bag and took out his shirt. It was a plain white t-shirt that he didnt even know he owned. When he put it over his head, he slid right through it. Stuart looked in the mirror and saw it was multiple sizes too big for him. He looked down at his bare legs and saw the shirt covered him a little above his knees. Stuart sighed but still but on his pants which, luckily, were his own size.

°°°•••°°°•••

As soon as Stuart got home, he had a shower and changed into the same clothes he had. He had figured that he'd stay with the large shirt since he felt so comfortable in it. He went into his room after showering and found his mother in there, sitting at his bed.

"Umm..."

"You're finally out. Come on, let's see if your contacts fit," she said as she walked over to Stuart's mirror.

Stuart walked over and stood at the mirror.

"You know how these work?"

Stuart shook his head.

"Of course you don't. Okay, so you first have to put the contact lens on your index finger."

Stuart took a lens and placed it at the tip of his finger. "Now?"

"Just pull your top lid back and then slide it upwards. Slow."

Stuart did as he was told and the contact lens entered almost immediately. When he looked up, he didn't really see any different. His mother, on the other hand, was thrilled.

"Oh, I'm so glad it worked. You're almost normal again, just put in the second one."

Stuart paused and processed what his mother told him. Almost normal? What was that supposed to mean?

"I think one is enough for today," Stuart mumbled as he started picking at the lens.

"Don't you want to try both of them on?"

Stuart shook his head. "I'm just a bit tired. It's been a stressing few days."

"Right," she said. "Are you going to bed now?"

Stuart nodded and slid out the contact lens. He put it back in the small box and sat at his bed.

"Goodnight, honey!", she said. Stuart just smiled back as she closed the door. When he made sure she had walked away, Stuart got out of bed and sat at his desk. He figured the first thing he should've done was try to reach Murdoc but it was late now and he was most likely busy working on homework that was due the next morning. 

Stuart didn't know if he could get a hold of him any time soon. He couldn't talk to him and he would most likely not go to school the next day.

Instead, he began writing a love letter for Murdoc. He made sure not to say any names since he would send someone to take it to Murdoc at school the next day.

In the letter, Stuart explained how he didn't remember anything from before the incident or what happened after. He also wrote how Murdoc could expect his eyes to be different now. He wrote the letter in multi-colored gel pens and neon markers. He wasn't the best artist, but he also drew small doodles of things he had seen at the hospital. In fact, Stuart had so much to say that the letter ended up extending to three pages, front and back.

He still wanted to continue writing but his brain was forcing sleep on him. He yawned and checked the time. One o'clock. He tried waking himself up with a sip of water, but it didn't help much now that it was warm.

He was writing down his last few phrases, now resting his head on his hand.

_I know you were probably wondering where I had gone for an entire five days. I just want to tell you that I'm glad to be back. I can't start school until Monday, but I hope to hear from you during the weekend. Until then, remember I..._

Stuart had fallen asleep on that last paragraph. He didn't even bother moving to his bed and just stayed asleep right on his desk.

°°°•••°°°•••

When Stuart woke up, he didn't recognize where he was. He lifted his head slowly and scanned the room. It was still his bedroom. His neck hurt like hell, but Stuart tried ignoring it. He looked down at the desk and saw the letter. The letter!

He turned to look at the time and saw it was seven thirty. It was still only a few minutes before one of his neighbors headed off to school. He folded the letter into a small envelope and attached a sticker to keep it closed.

He rushed out of his room, wearing only socks and his attire from last night. Stuart rushed down the street with the letter in his hand and knocked at the door.

The boy answered the door and look up at Stuart.

"Wha--?! Y-Your eyes!"

Crap.

"No, no, no! These are, uh, contact lenses! For my...Halloween costume."

The younger boy furrowed his eyebrows. "Halloween is like, at the way end of the month."

Stuart sighed. "That's not what matters! I need you to give this letter to someone in school for me. Okay?"

The boy took the letter and stared at it. "A love letter? What's her name?"

"Uhh...M-Murdoc Niccals," Stuart winced.

The boy looked up at him in shock but still tucked the letter into his backpack.

"He's a Junior-Year student," Stuart said. "And don't go yelling his name around! Just find him in the library before school starts."

The boy sighed but began walking out of his front yard.

"Be quick!"

The boy turned to look at Stuart. "I know!"

Stuart saw him turn the corner and disappear. He sighed and walked back home. All he had to do now was wait. But waiting would turn out to be the hardest part of everything.


	6. Chapter 6

Stuart found that waiting for the school day to come to an end was a lot harder than he thought. Not only did he have to wait so long for his neighbor to come back with the news, but he was also being forced to watch obviously staged talk shows with his mother for the rest of the morning.

However, when the talk shows all came to an end, Stuart was glad to return to his room and wait in there. He had lied to his mother by saying he needed to get some sleep, which was the only reason she let him leave. He enjoyed his mother's company, but sometimes Stuart just needed some alone time. He was almost no longer a kid and he had to start doing things independently. 

When he entered his room, he went right to his bed. Stuart sat at his bed for a while, not expecting anything to happen in the next few hours he'd have to be there. He looked at his alarm clock. It was already eleven o'clock. At this time, Stuart would have been in his free period. He let himself fall back on the soft bed and looked up at the ceiling. 

All sorts of thoughts were bubbling in his mind. He was wondering about everything at this point. He asked himself what was happening in school. Was Murdoc planning on writing back? Was he currently writing his response in a letter? Stuart felt butterflies fluttering in his belly as he pictured Murdoc writing out a love letter just for him.

He turned over and got comfortable in his bed. As he adjusted himself under his blankets, he found it to be very warm in there. Maybe he actually did need to catch up on sleep.

He closed his eyes and relaxed. The atmosphere of his room was just right for a quick nap. Stuart slowed down his breathing and drifted off into his dreams.

°°°•••°°°•••

"Pssst!"

Stuart opened his eyes and looked up. It was his neighbor.

"How'd you...how'd you get in here?", Stuart muttered as he rubbed his eyes, slowly sitting up.

"Your mom let me in. I got news from that guy you asked about!"

Stuart sat up straight and smiled. "Really?! What'd he say?"

The boy frowned. "Yeah, well..."

"Well?"

"Don't think about it too much but...he said he doesn't want to talk to you."

Stuart lowered his shoulders and furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you...are you sure?

"Yeah, I found him in the library before school like you told me. I told him about the letter but he said he didn't want to see it. He added on that he didn't want anything to do with you."

There was no way that he would say something like that. Stuart didn't remember much, but he definitely knew they shared a connection. Murdoc wouldn't forget about his feelings like that, he just couldn't.

As far as he remembered, Murdoc had agreed to meet up in the park. Stuart was supposed to have met him there, but he didn't remember if he even got to the park. He tried remembering but found it was useless and that he couldn't remember anything after the invitation to the park.

"Well, if that's all you needed, then I'll leave you to it," the boy said as he put the letter on his desk and began walking out the door.

Stuart watched him go and stayed seated. He wasn't sad about the news because he was just that convinced that it wasn't true. That just wasn't...right. He had known Murdoc long enough to know he wouldn't do something like that.

He'd have to hear it come from Murdoc himself to believe it.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart was putting in his contacts in front of the bathroom mirror. It stung a little, but the pain left after a few minutes. He was going out shopping with his mom, he wouldn't have put on the eye contacts if it had been his choice. When he finished putting the second one in, Stuart blinked and his eyes watered up a bit from the burning.

He looked in the mirror and sighed. His eyes had a certain sadness in them, even though he wasn't feeling sad. Stuart assumed it was because his eyes had sunk back into his head a bit and walked back to his room.

Stuart was itching for the next day to come so he could leave his house already and just talk to Murdoc about their situation in school. He had convinced himself his neighbor was playing a joke of sorts on him and that he'd be friends again with Murdoc by the next day. He changed into clean clothes and left the house to enter the car.

°°°•••°°°•••

Murdoc was out in the street like he was every other night. It was particularly late, that was as far as he knew. He hadn't bothered to check the time as he wandered the streets.

Murdoc didn't want to go home and he didn't want to do anything. His mind kept taking him back to that moment in the library with that kid. He thought he could forget about Stuart easily, that he could leave him behind and move on like nothing had happened. Quite evidently, this was not true.

It broke his heart to think that Stuart wanted to see him. Despite everything going wrong because of his fault, Stuart wanted to be with him. Murdoc sighed and kept walking through the unfamiliar street. He was sure Stuart would be back in school one of these days and that he would ultimately have to have that conversation with him. He'd have to look him in the eye and tell him those dreaded words.

"It's over."

Murdoc knew he was a good liar and that Stuart was very naive, making it easier for Stuart to fall for it. He could pull off the betrayal of his own emotions, but his mind wouldn't let him cope with it for eternity. Murdoc looked up from the ground and saw his street up ahead. He kept walking and decided he'd sleep in his car again tonight.

°°°•••°°°•••

Murdoc woke up to the feeling of sunshine on his face and opened his eyes to the bright light of the morning.

He opened the car door and looked up at the sky. It was a mixture of orange and a soft lavender, the morning sun only made the colors stand out more. 

He headed towards his house to change his clothes. Murdoc didn't dare enter through the front door to find his father in the living room, passed out drunk. He went in through his window and looked through his closet for clean clothes.

He had gone with a white t-shirt and pants but just covered it all with an oversized sweater.

Although there wasn't much to do on the weekends most of the time, Murdoc still tried finding something to do. He got back into his car and drove through town, looking for a shop to stop at for a while.

He was lucky to have some money on him and decided he'd buy something for himself to wake him up. He stopped at a convinience shop and entered to buy an energy drink or maybe a coffee.

When he entered, he recognized the dark-haired girl he'd seen at the park. Stuart had said her name was Paula or something like that. She was at the candy section of the store with the same blonde friend from last time. Murdoc intentionally got closer to that aisle to pick up on their conversation.

"I'm so worried about what could've happened to him," she said, "I didn't see him at school today either."

"I'm sure he's probably just on vacation or something. You know his parents are rich, right? Maybe he went on vacation," the other responded.

"Maybe," Paula said. "Either way, I don't want to risk him being sick or something. I just really wanna ask about him in his house."

Murdoc clenched his jaw as he heard that last part. Using all his self-control, he managed to not walk over and just smash their heads in. When he did relax, Murdoc's brain told him maybe this wasn't too bad. Since he would have to stop being around Stuart, maybe it was good that Paula was interested in him. Stuart could focus on her and not feel as heartbroken once Murdoc left.

However, the cynical part of his brain reminded him he would never share Stuart with anyone. When he even imagined Stuart with anyone else, he felt like stabbing something right on the spot. There was no way he would stand back, completely idle, as Stuart dated someone else, especially someone like Paula. Something about her just didn't seem right for Stuart. She was just...not right.

Murdoc opened up a small fridge with various energy drinks and reached out for one. He went up to the counter and waited in line for the person in front of him to finish paying. While he was waiting, he heard someone clear his throat behind him.

He turned around and saw the blonde girl standing next to Paula.

"You know energy drinks can end up killing you, right?"

Murdoc glared at her. "Whatever it takes to get rid of _nosy_ people in my life."

She scoffed and Murdoc turned back to face away from her, feeling convinced with the reaction he'd received.

°°°•••°°°•••

The rest of the weekend was entirely uneventful. He spent most of it driving around town with nothing to do. He stopped sometimes to stretch out but he would continue moments after. He hadn't gone back home the entire weekend since he had slept in his car wherever he happened to park it when night would fall.

On Sunday night, he had remembered to park it near his house since he'd need to get clean clothes the morning after.

°°°•••°°°•••

When the school morning came, Murdoc snuck into his house again and changed into a new outfit. He had gone with a gray shirt that used to belong to Hannibal. It still fit him a bit too big, but he wore it nonetheless. Under the shirt, he wore a simple black long sleeve shirt. He gathered his backpack from the corner of his room and as ready to go.

Murdoc went out the window and made his way to the school building. As he was getting there, he suddenly remembered Stuart. He probably wouldn't come to school today, but if he did, he'd have to have the conversation with him. As much as he didn't want to do it, he knew it was necessary to completely cut contact with him. Murdoc practiced what he'd say to Stuart on his way there.

°°°•••°°°•••

Upon entering the library, he was surprised to not find Stuart in there. Maybe he was late today. He walked out of the library and went downstairs to practice the conversation. If he found Stuart during his free period, he could tell him right then and there. This would give him an entire four classes to practice the conversation in his head.

When Murdoc went to the library during Stuart's free period, he wasn't there again. Murdoc realized Stuart might have taken today off and figured this would give him even more time to practice the conversation. They'd probably end up having the conversation a day or two later and so he decided he'd stress about the specifics of the talk later.

°°°•••°°°•••

By the time Murdoc had reached his sixth period, he had a hint of how their conversation could go. He would first set the mood and prepare the other, he couldn't tell him head-on since Stuart was as sensitive as he was.

Murdoc looked up at the clock on his teacher's desk. Class was almost over, for which he was thankful for. His current class was everything but intriguing and he'd prefer to be bored in a classroom where he wouldn't hear his reading teacher's monotone voice.

°°°•••°°°•••

When the bell finally called for the end of class, Murdoc was quick to pack up all his belongings and walked across the hall to his final class, writing.

When he got there and took a seat in the corner of the room, he laid his head down and shut his eyes. His head hurt like hell, most likely because of his uncomfortable sleeping position from the night before and his lack of sleep. He rubbed his neck and looked up. When he looked up at the door, Murdoc was shocked to see it.

Stuart was coming right through the door.

It didn't make sense, he wasn't supposed to be back until a few days later. He hadn't been here the rest of the day, why had he just shown up? Murdoc knew he probably looked like he had just seen a ghost because a student sitting next to him pointed it out to him. He stopped staring in Stuart's direction and looked away, hoping he could avoid talking to him the rest of the day.

When he glanced at him, he saw Stuart was looking at him with a wide smile. He turned around and felt he could cry just thinking about how he might never see that smile again. Murdoc hoped Stuart wasn't looking at him anymore by the time the lesson had started. He turned to look at Stuart and saw he was writing something in his journal. Murdoc was glad he had forgotten him for now as he opened up his own journal. He had only recently gotten it back from his proud teacher.

When he flipped through several pages, he saw Stuart’s messy handwriting sprawled all over the journal. It was the memoir. Looking through the paragraphs made Murdoc wonder what it was Stuart had written in that love letter from the previous day. Maybe he had written that he didn't want to see Murdoc anymore. Maybe Stuart didn't care about him anymore. This thought was quickly erased as he realized Stuart wouldn't have smiled at him like that earlier if he didn't want to know about him anymore.

Murdoc admired Stuart's writing for a while longer. He skimmed through the terrible puns thrown around in the memoir, which sounded nothing like what Murdoc would ever write. He hadn't ever really taken the time to read through it and found it to be rather entertaining. He read it all in Stuart's voice and pictured how he'd be giggling at his own jokes. When he reached the last sentences, he felt melancholy taking over him.

_Even though he wasn't what I expected he'd be, Stuart was nice. He made me feel comfortable and I could be myself around him without expecting any strict approval. I knew this would blossom into a beautiful friendship that would last our whole lives._

Murdoc felt his heart crack as he reached the end. He knew Stuart hadn't just imagined what Murdoc would feel, but he had snuck his own emotions into it too. He took a deep breath and closed the journal, he couldn't get himself to read those sentences again.

°°°•••°°°•••

There were only around five minutes until class was finally over. Murdoc hoped he could make it out the door without Stuart catching up. He needed more time to have the conversation and now was definitely not the time or place. If he was going to tell him, it'd be privately and at a point in which he was ready.

Murdoc began putting his journal away to prepare for the bell. If he shot out the door on time, he could get a head start and avoid Stuart. Luckily, Stuart didn't know where he lived, so he wouldn't have to worry about Stuart finding him once he escaped.

He was just putting away his notes when the bell rang. Murdoc sat up quickly and rushed to the door. He looked back to see Stuart was still getting his journal in his backpack. He ran out the door and through the hallways which were still not as full as they would get in a matter of moments. He sped down through the stairs and reached the main office. He looked up one last time and recognized the familiar blue hair in the crowds of students going down the stairs.

As he was prepwring to leave through the main entrance, he saw a sign taped to the glass doo. The main entrance was closed due to a malfunction in the automatic doors.

With nowhere else to go through and Stuart catching up to him, Murdoc rushed to the lunchroom door and ran across the indoor-gym. The exit was at the far end of the gym and it didn't help that it was already crowded at the door. He turned back one last time and saw Stuart getting pushed around by the small crowd at the door. Murdoc began pushing some people himself as he squeezed in to finally reach the outside. Despite trying, the crowd refused to move up and Murdoc found himself at the end of the entire group.

When he looked back, Stuart was already rushing towards him. He smiled as he reached Murdoc and took a moment to catch his breath once he was next to him.

"Wow, you're really fast!", Stuart panted and smiled at Murdoc.

Murdoc didn't answer but instead tried ignoring Stuart's remarks. It wasn't coming as much help though as Stuart began talking even more.

"I smiled at you in writing class, didn't you see me?"

Murdoc acted surprised and shook his head. "No, I didn't see you, I guess."

"It's alright," Stuart said, "Check out my eyes!"

Murdoc turned to look at him and smiled quickly only to turn to look at the door again.

"Don't tell anyone, but I got these things called eight-ball fractures in both eyes. Basically they look like two pieces of coal now. I like them but my mom thinks they look scary so she forced me to wear these contacts," Stuart whispered.

Murdoc sighed and turned to look at Stuart. "Can we talk?"

Stuart looked scared for a moment but smiled bleakly at him. "Sure, what happened?"

"Somewhere else," Murdoc added.

Stuart turned to look around the lunchroom then set his eyes on the exit to the field. "You wanna talk on the bleachers outside?"

Murdoc nodded and began walking towards the second exit. As he did, he reviewed what he had told himself a few classes ago. He was nowhere near ready to tell him, but he had to do it now before Stuart became attached to him even more.

°°°•••°°°•••

Outside, the sky had turned a scarlet and orange mixture. The sun was surprisingly bright and the entire outdoors had a reddish tint to it.

When they got to the bleachers, Murdoc was quick to begin climbing to the top but heard Stuart clear his throat.

"Um, do you mind helping me up?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc was about to agree but then remembered he was supposed to act like a bit of an asshole to convince Stuart to leave him. "Just do it yourself, it's not hard."

Stuart nodded but hesitated to step on the bleachers. Murdoc was on the second step when he felt Stuart's hand get a hold of his own. He looked back in shock and saw Stuart was holding on to him for support as he took slow steps up the bleachers. He was careful with each step and tightened his grip when he felt he could fall. Murdoc would have let go of Stuart’s hand, but he didn't want him to get hurt and figured it wouldn't be a problem to help him up.

When they reached the top of the bleachers, Stuart sat next to Murdoc and smiled at him.

"What did you wanna tell me?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc took a deep breath and avoided eye contact with him. "How do I put this..."

Stuart scooted closer to listen and put his hands at his knees.

"Well, first, what do you remember before your accident?"

Stuart thought about it and tried remembering. "I remember that we agreed to meet up in the park. I don't remember if we did, though. Everything after that is just gone."

Murdoc raised a brow. "You don't remember anything after that?"

"N-No, nothing."

"Okay," Murdoc said. So he didn't remember? Well, at least he wouldn't have to take back the kiss at this point.

"Listen, Stuart. You're great. You're nice, you're considerate and just a great guy."

Stuart blushed slightly. "Oh, thanks, I g--"

"But I don't think we can be friends anymore."

Stuart stopped smiling and looked at Murdoc in the eye. "You...you what?"

"Yeah. I think we're just...I don't think we should hang out. You're not like me and I'm not like you. We're just too different."

Stuart's lip began to tremble as he responded. "I thought you said we were similar. D-Don't you remember?"

"Well then I take it back," Murdoc said sharply. "In fact, I don't think we have anything in common. You're too stuck in your rich little world to even worry about people like me."

Stuart looked at him with confused sadness. "You...you don't really mean that," he said as he held back his tears, "But I was just going to...You're just-You're just joking, right?"

Murdoc looked away from Stuart. "No. I'm not joking. I don't want anything to do with you and I take back ever even meeting you."

Stuart's tears finally escaped his eyes and they began rolling down uncontrollably. "Why would you say that?"

"Because I mean it. I can't understand why I even talked to you when I met you."

Stuart's voice began cracking as he tried responding, tears streaming down his face. "But we're friends, aren't we? I don't know what I did wrong but I can fix it if you just--"

"Don't you understand, Pot? I don't like you, I've never liked you and we're _not friends._ "

Stuart finally snapped and began crying out loud. He sniffed and breathed heavily as he wiped away his tears. As he did, Murdoc could feel his own heart breaking at the sight of it. The fact that he had caused all that pain hurt him to a point of madness.

Stuart wiped away more of his tears and sniffed. "I spent an entire night writing that stupid love letter for you! That's how much I liked you! But now I realize you're no different from those bullies you beat up! Now I realize you're even worse than them!"

Murdoc looked at Stuart painfully and how he hid his sobs in his hands. Murdoc opened up his backpack and took out the penguin plushie. He set it next to Stuart and began walking off the bleachers.

As he walked through the open field, he heard Stuart crying his eyes out behind him. His sobs gradually grew distant as he walked further and further. He'd finally done it. And he was left just as heart broken as Stuart.

°°°•••°°°•••

On his way back home, Stuart was still wiping away tears from the conversation. When he finally reached his house, he stepped in glumly and with his head hanging low. His parents only stared at him as he went to the hall and into his bedroom. He closed the door shut and locked it behind him. Stuart wasn't planning on getting out of his room for the rest of the day. As a matter of fact, he wasn't planning on getting out ever again. He threw himself onto his bed and sobbed some more into his pillow.

Stuart's tears drenched the silk pillow and they left a large stain on it. He lifted his head up for air and dropped it in again. He just wanted to stay in his room forever, away from anyone and anything that could ever hurt him again. He wouldn't trust anyone ever again. As he sat up from his pillow, he backed up to the corner of his bed to sit and hid his face in his knees. He didn't want to see anyone. Stuart was done with everything, he would quit school and dedicate his life to staying in his room, locked away from people like Murdoc or people like those horrible bullies.

As he laid back down on his bed, Stuart curled up on all his pillows and shut his eyes. They were surely tired of crying so much.


	7. Chapter 7

Stuart was still hurt about everything that had happened the previous night. He still couldn't believe Murdoc had been so cruel. He knew Murdoc could be rough but everything that had happened was so unlike him. Stuart had told himself to not over think it all. He had to come to terms with it; Murdoc didn't want to be with him.

As much as he still wanted to believe it wasn't true, it was an undeniable fact.

The next day, Stuart still went to school. He knew it'd be awkward for Murdoc to be there too but he figured he'd just ignore him. When he got there in the morning, Stuart decided he wouldn't enter the library and instead he'd go to one of his classrooms. Stuart was walking through the halls, looking for an empty classroom when he walked by his Home Economics class.

He looked through the small window to check if it was empty. He couldn't see the entire room, but from what he could tell, the room was empty.

Stuart walked in and looked around. When he saw the front desks, he saw someone was sitting there. A girl.

She turned around to look at him.

"Oh, m-my bad, Paula..."

She smiled at him as she stood up. "It's okay, Stuart. You wanna sit with me?"

Stuart looked at the door and rubbed his arm sheepishly. "Actually, I was just..."

"Come on, sit here," she said as she patted a desk next to her. "I don't bite."

Stuart laughed nervously as he eyed the door again. "Um, I guess...there's nothing wrong with sitting, right?"

Stuart walked over to Paula and sat. She fluttered her eyelashes at him as she scooted closer to him.

"Um, Paula?"

She placed her hand over his and smiled at him. "You know, you're a really sweet guy, Stuart."

Stuart slipped his hand out of Paula's hand and scooted away. "Th-That's very nice of you..."

"Oh, you're so cute when you shy away!", she said as she got closer to Stuart.

"S-Stop, you're making me uncomfortable!", Stuart said as she pressed herself against his side.

Stuart hopped off the desk and bumped into another desk as he ran to the door. He didn't look back at her when he left the classroom. As he was speed walking through the halls, the situation replayed in his mind. He felt filthy as he imagined Murdoc being in Paula's place. It made him feel bad that he wouldn't have been as bothered if it had been Murdoc coming on to him like that. He tried erasing the image from his mind as he sped up his pace.

°°°•••°°°•••

By the time second period rolled in, Stuart had almost forgotten about the morning situation. He was glad the math teacher still hadn't returned since that meant that he could work on anything during the class. Noodle had become a lot more social, for which he was grateful. It meant she wouldn't have as much trouble in her classes where she didn't know anyone. She would often be pulled out of her normal classes to practice speech in other classrooms. Stuart could tell those classes were coming in handy since her sentences had become more coherent and she rarely took out her notebook to write these days.

During the second period, Stuart took the time to catch up on notes he hadn't taken while he was gone. Russel had been nice enough to share his notes with him and let him keep them for as long as necessary. He was behind on three of his six classes but luckily the class hadn't covered a lot during his hospital visit.

As he took his reading notes, Stuart checked the time on his phone. There were only a couple minutes of class left so he began to put his journals into his backpack. Once the bell rang, he zipped it shut and put it over one arm as he walked to the door.

°°°•••°°°•••

While he was leaving for his free period, Stuart was stopped by Paula.

"Hey, where are you going for free period?"

Stuart turned to look at her and shrugged. "Maybe my reading class, I don't know."

She walked with him and continued, "I was meaning to tell you that I'm sorry about what happened in the morning."

Stuart had nearly forgotten about it when she mentioned it. "Oh, right. It's alright."

Paula laughed and continued to walk with him. "I guess I just got nervous around you so I freaked out a bit."

_She_ was nervous and freaked out?

"I hope you don't see me any differently now. Can we start over?", she asked.

Stuart nodded and kept walking to his reading class.

"Oh, thanks. I hope we can be friends," Paula said with a wink as she walked away from him.

Stuart stayed looking at her as she walked away. Maybe Murdoc was right and she really did like him. Even if she did, Stuart didn't have any time to show interest in more people. He walked into the classroom and saw two or three other students studying inside. He took a seat near the door and opened up his notes again to continue his studying session.

Despite trying for about twenty minutes, Stuart couldn't manage to focus on his work and ended up walking back to the library so he could work in there. As he was reaching the door, he heard footsteps going down the stairs. He peeked over the staircase and caught a glimpse of a familiar face.

Murdoc?

Stuart was quick to go back to the library's door. If it was really him, he didn't want to be seen by him now. Stuart walked into the room and shut the door behind him. When he went to the center table, Russel was in there. Stuart walked up to the table and sat next to Russel.

"Hey, Russ."

Russel didn't respond as he kept reading his book. Stuart looked up to read the title. _Basic Japanese Phrases: Beginner's Guide_.

"You're learning Japanese?"

Russel looked up at him and shut the book. "Yeah, so? I can't become more cultured?"

Stuart shrugged. "It's just that you usually read horror stories, it's a really drastic change. Why Japanese, if I can ask?"

"I'm just curious. It's for a friend."

"I don't know any other Japanese-speaking person other than...", Stuart froze when he realized it. "Oh my God, it's Noodle, isn't it?"

Russel laughed and went back to a straight face in a snap. "No, I don't know what you mean."

"It's totally Noodle! You're friends with her?"

"Why wouldn't I be?", Russel responded quickly.

"A-ha! So it IS her!", Stuart said. "Wow, who would've known you'd be friends with her out of everyone else in here."

"Why is it such a surprise?", Russel asked as he pulled up his book again. "I have her in so many classes, it was bound to happen, wasn't it?"

Stuart laughed and hid his face in his hand as he did. Russel glared at Stuart from behind his book and heard Stuart's cackling turn into giggles.

As he was laughing, the door flung open and they both turned to look at who was entering. They heard loud steps and metallic clinking.

It was Noodle. She was skipping through the room, causing all the keychains on her backpack to crash together. Noodle looked at them and stopped. She smiled and rushed forward to their table.

"Ha-llo!", she greeted. Stuart waved his hand and Russel just glanced at her then went back into his book. She sat across from both of them and put her bag on the table. She took out a small vertical notebook and read the phrases written on the first pages.

"H-How...how you are...doing?", she stuttered.

Stuart smiled at her. "I'm good."

She turned to look at Russel with a hopeful look.

"Same."

Noodle tilted her head in confusion and turned to her notes, looking for an explanation of sorts on his answer.

"He means he's good too."

"Ahh...", she said. She set the notebook on the table and scribbled down more notes. When she finished, she clicked her pen and waved goodbye at them as she made her way to the door.

They heard the door shut behind her and Stuart turned to look at him. "Same? She doesn't know slang!"

"That's not slang, okay? Besides, how was I supposed to know?!", Russel asked.

Stuart smirked and went back to writing notes for his reading class. As he was flipping to the next page, Russel called him.

"Murdoc was in here earlier."

Stuart felt his heart skip a beat when he said his name. "Oh, really? That's...great."

Russel nodded and continued. "I'm surprised you weren't taped to him like you usually are."

Stuart sighed and looked up at Russel. "Well, we're not...we're not really friends anymore."

Russel squinted as if he didn't believe Stuart. "Seriously? You used to sound almost in love with him," he laughed.

"Stop," Stuart muttered.

Russel cleared his throat as he caught on with the ambiance of the situation. "Why aren't you friends anymore?"

Stuart shrugged and pretended to look at his notes, reading over the same phrase over and over again. "He just thought we were too different or something..."

Russel sighed. "Well, at least he was right about that. If I'm being honest, I'm glad you're not friends with that guy anymore. He was kind of a jerk."

Stuart faked a laugh and continued reading. He looked at the time and pretended to be shocked. "Oh! I gotta go. See you later, Russ."

Russel watched him get up and leave the library. He turned on his own phone to check the time. There were still ten minutes of the free period left.

°°°•••°°°•••

Writing class was exceptionally difficult to sit through. Stuart struggled to not glance at Murdoc to see if he was looking back. He had forced himself to keep his eyes on his work every time he almost looked at Murdoc. More often than once, he would tighten his grip on his pencil to resist the urge to look at the other. In fact, Stuart had clutched his pencil so tightly at one point that his hand had gone numb for a few moments. 

Stuart had gotten almost no work done because of the constant state of anxiety that he was in. He had written two or three sentences but that was about it. He had decided that at this rate, working was most definitely not a choice any more. Stuart put his journal away and instead took out a loose piece of paper and began scribbling on it. It worked as a surprisingly great stress reliever for him until the lead of the pencil broke from the pressure being put on it.

Stuart crumpled the paper into a ball and slid it under his desk. He looked for his pencil sharpener in a small pouch inside his backpack. When he finished sharpening his pencil, Stuart went back to scribbling on a new sheet of paper.

As he was scribbling, he felt the paper tear under the pencil. He lifted his hand, there was a long line on the desk. Stuart spat on his hand and tried erasing the line from the desk. He looked around nervously to make sure no one saw him. When he looked down, he saw the desk was clean again but his hand was stained with the graphite. He wiped it on his shirt but the stain refused to go away.

Just as he was getting up to go wash his hands, the bell rang and students stood up with their belongings to exit the door.

Stuart sat back down on his desk and put on his backpack. The room was already almost empty since the students had been so quick to rush out of the last class. Stuart wanted to take his time leaving the room and leave himself with his own thoughts. He didn't look up from the ground as he walked to the door. Big mistake.

He heard someone clear their throat and he looked up in surprise. It was Murdoc.

Stuart had so much to tell him. His thoughts were racing as his body froze. It was now that he realized all his previous efforts in avoiding him had all been in vain. He was about to open his mouth to talk to him, tell him everything on his mind.

Just as soon as it had started, it had all ended. Murdoc had walked right past him and gone out the door immediately. Stuart stayed stunned, confused about everything that had just unfolded in front of him. Murdoc had just ignored him and walked away from him as if he were nothing. Stuart was about to go after him and demand for attention when he remembered he wasn't supposed to be after him.

Stuart only now remembered everything he had said to him. He wasn't supposed to want to talk to him. He shook his head to maybe get some reason into his brain. He headed out of the classroom and took a different flight of stairs, one where he wouldn't run into Murdoc.

°°°•••°°°•••

When Stuart got home, he was surprised to see his parents waiting for him by the door. He looked at them confused as they were both smiling and looking at him.

"Ummm..."

"Stuart," his mother began, "We feel that you've become old enough for this. We know school has been hard on you recently and that keeping up with all your assignments can be hard to do, so..."

Stuart scratched his head and looked at her. "So?"

"Well, go check your room."

Stuart gave them a puzzled look as he walked to his room. What could they be so eager about? Stuart opened the door and saw a medium-sized box with giftwrap all around it. The colorful box was sitting at his bed, creating a great contrast with the white blankets and sheets. He walked towards it as he set his backpack on the floor.

Stuart sat at his bed and began tearing at the paper. With each tear, he was slowly revealing what was under the wrapping paper. He set the box on his lap to get a better grip on it as he tore of the last few bits of paper.

Stuart gasped when he read what was on the box. A laptop? He scratched at the tape that was keeping the box closed. He heard his parents walking into the room and they stood at the doorway.

When he finally managed to open the box, he took out the laptop and admired it.

"Wow, thanks...W-Why a laptop?"

His mom laughed but cleared her throat. "Well, we know printing out your writing can make you have a bit more time for things like working on other assignments and all so we figured we'd do this for you. Besides, you can have availability to more things than what's on your phone."

"Oh," Stuart said. He smiled at them and put the laptop to the side of his bed. "Well, I appreciate it."

They seemed a bit disappointed that he hadn't used the laptop right then but still walked out of the room. Stuart closed the door behind them and turned back. He wasn't too excited about the laptop but he couldn't just tell his parents. Besides, it's not like he got tired from writing traditionally. He just felt more creative when he wrote assignments by hand.

Stuart sat at his bed and began working on his homework assignments, all by hand.

°°°•••°°°•••

After a few hours of work, Stuart had finally finished and went to the kitchen for a snack. He served himself a small cup of vanilla ice cream and went back into his room.

He still had a few hours before he would go to bed and found himself with nothing to do. Stuart was looking around his room when he looked at the laptop. It couldn't hurt to just try it out for a while. He opened it up, pressed the power button and felt it come to life. He laid down on his bed and continued eating his ice cream, waiting for the loading screen to leave.

°°°•••°°°•••

Although it had taken and while to set everything up, Stuart had finished preparing the laptop for use and opened up a browser. There was a lot available to him now and he began by opening up a page where he could play games. Most games on his phone weren't great but he knew people praised computer games like if they were gods. Trying a few out couldn't hurt. He checked the time and figured be could play for an hour or so.

Unfortunately, Stuart wasn't aware of how addicting video games could actually be and found himself falling into an endless hole of clicking games that took him to several different websites.

As he was opening a new game, his mom walked into the room and was shocked to see him using the laptop.

"Oh, how does it work?", she asked eagerly.

"It works nice," Stuart said as he kept his eyes on the screen.

"That's great, but just remember to turn it off soon, it's almost time for you to go to bed," she said as she closed the door.

Stuart looked at the time at the corner of the screen. It was already that late? He felt as if only a few minutes had passed since he had turned it on. Stuart looked back at the loading screen and sighed.

One more game couldn't hurt anyone.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart had left the first game in what seemed like forever now. He had been jumping from game to game, each title catching his attention more than the previous. He hadn't noticed it, but he had spent a lot of time sitting at the laptop.

Stuart checked the time. It was one in the morning now and he cupped a hand over his mouth. He didn't feel tired at all and he definitely didn't feel that so much time had passed already. Stuart was about to shut the laptop closed when he felt an urge to go to the bathroom. He squeezed his legs together in hopes of keeping it in.

Stuart knew he couldn't go to the bathroom this late at night. If he were to leave his room, his parents would know he had stayed up all night. Stuart let out a whimper as he held it all in. If he was quiet, they wouldn't notice him, right?

Stuart carefully stepped down from his bed and tip-toed to the door. He opened it slowly and walked out of his room. When he reached the bathroom door, he cracked it open and flicked on the light.

Once he had emptied his bladder, he instinctively flushed the toilet and scared himself with the loud water going down the toilet. He bit his lip and prayed that his parents wouldn't wake up. When the water finished flushing, he held his breath and waited for his dad to burst out of his room and shout at him.

Luckily, nothing happened. He let his breath go and looked in the mirror. He was surprised to see himself with his eyes but then remembered it was because he hadn't removed his contacts. He washed his hands and began fishing for the lenses out of his eyes.

Once he finished, he held on to them and silently walked back to his room.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart woke up to the screaming of his dad. He rubbed his eyes as he lifted his head from his pillow. Stuart stepped out of his room and found his parents shouting in the kitchen.

"Well then who left the bathroom light on?!"

Stuart widened his eyes and stopped on his tracks.

"I already told you that I turned it off before I went to bed," he heard his mother respond.

"Oh, then the ghost did it, right?"

Stuart walked back into his room and shut the door behind him. How had he forgotten to turn off the bathroom light?!

He looked for clothes in his closet and hurried to change. Maybe if he left quickly, he wouldn't be noticed.

Once he changed into his clothes, he got his backpack and walked to the door.

"I'm going to school now!", he announced. His mom turned to look at him and frowned.

"Honey, you're forgetting something!"

Stuart gulped. They couldn't have found him out so quickly, could they?

"Your contacts! Don't forget the contacts!", she urged him.

"Oh!", he said. He rushed to his room to get them and slid them into his eyes. He was lucky to have slipped out of that one.

He went back into the living room and opened the front door. "Now I'm really leaving!", he shouted.

"Alright, have a nice day, sweetie!"

Stuart stepped out of his house and closed the door.

As he was walking out, he checked his pockets for any money. If he had any, he could buy something from the convinience store on his way to school. He felt his pockets but, unfortunately, he didn't have anything on him. He sighed and kept walking to school. He didn't usually get to school on an empty stomach which was why he startled himself when he heard it grumbling as he entered the building.

Stuart tried ignoring all the noise coming from inside him as he made his way upstairs. He figured he'd just go to the library to get a new book then head to his first class. He pulled the library door open and walked towards his favorite section; the fiction section.

As he was skimming through book titles, a new stand across from him caught his attention. He leaned in to read the book titles but saw they had rather cheesy titles. He looked up to read what the new section was called.

Romance.

He stepped away from that section and instead took a random book from the fiction section. He didn't want to be caught looking at those sort of books and walked to the door so he could get to his first class.

As he was walking to his class, he was planning out his entire day. He would avoid the library like the plague and any other place in which he could possibly bump into Murdoc. Stuart knew that he could do it. How hard could it be to avoid one person in such a large building?

Stuart reached his hallway and turned to the room. He saw the room was still locked and no one was in there. If the room was locked, he'd have to go somewhere else to continue reading his book. Stuart was considering going to the lunchroom, but he knew it'd be too loud in there for him to focus and with his recent health issue, he had started getting really intense migraines. Instead, Stuart thought he could just go to another class where it was usually calm.

There was his Home Economics class, but he didn't want to risk seeing Paula again. Even though she had apologized, he still felt weird around her. Stuart was eliminating ideas and running out of options but he began thinking that the library didn't sound so terrible now.

He fixed his backpack strap and began walking back into the library. No one would go into the library at this time of the day. There was the occasional flirty couple that thought they could make out in there, but Stuart had learned to ignore all their fuss.

Just as he was getting there Stuart remembered that he had forgotten to check out his book. He began digging through his backpack in search of his library card number. He was terrible at memorizing things and never even bothered to remember the twelve-digit code.

He pulled the door open and walked to the center of the room, still searching inside his backpack. When he found it, he looked up and saw it.

Murdoc was sitting at the corner of the room, scrolling through his phone with little interest. He hadn't looked up yet and Stuart saw it as a chance to escape without him noticing. If he could be quiet and fast enough, Murdoc wouldn't recognize him.

As he was silently stepping to the door, he heard all his notebooks in his backpack fall out. There were several loud thuds as each book fell. He scrunched up his face and waited for something to happen.

Surprisingly, nothing happened. Stuart bent down to pick up his notebooks and decided that since he was already caught, there was no point in leaving anymore. He walked to a table far away enough from Murdoc's with his notebooks in his arms. He didn't dare look at Murdoc because if he did, he'd submit to temptation and try to fix what was clearly shattered.

He sat silently and opened up his book. He tried focusing on reading but found it to be harder than it would have been if he was in the lunchroom. Stuart squinted at the letters to capture his own attention better. As he was staring holes into the pages of the book, he heard a deep and distorted growl coming from under the table.

He peered down in fear and expected for something to lunge right at him. As he slid down on his seat to see under the table, he heard it again, only lower and a bit longer.

Stuart stopped sliding into his seat. He held in all his embarrassment as he realized the growling was coming from his stomach. How he didn't run out of the library right then and there was a mystery to him. He sat up again and tried focusing on his book. He hoped Murdoc hadn't heard any of that.

As he was beginning to read a page, it came back. The growling was now even stronger and Stuart hid his face in shame as it stretched out for longer.

He heard Murdoc get out of his seat and walk towards him. Stuart held in his breath as he heard him getting closer. When he arrived, Murdoc put a candy bar at his desk and walked out of the room without a word.

Stuart looked down at the candy bar and smiled. He lifted it up and began tearing at the wrapper. At this point, he really didn't care who the food was coming from. He was hungry and he wasn't going to just refuse chances like that one. Stuart took a bite of the bar and actually felt himself getting better. Having something, anything, in his stomach was enough to make him think the world was a great place.

As he took a second bite of the candy, he began wondering why Murdoc had done that. If he didn't want to talk with him, then why had he given him food? Stuart began turning the gears in his head to answer his own questions. If he was right, then Murdoc had lied about something.

Murdoc might have been lying when he told him he didn't want to talk with Stuart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might upload chapters a little later in the day starting this Wednesday because of school and all so please bear with me. Sorry if this is an inconvenience for you, but I'll try my hardest to get these out soon. :-)


	8. Chapter 8

He had screwed up. He had either completely messed every thing up for himself or he had saved himself. No matter how he looked at it, though, he had found a way to waste all his efforts of avoiding Stuart.

Murdoc was currently hating himself for everything he could come up with. Despite telling himself that he wouldn't get close to Stuart in any way, he had ended up walking straight into his own trap and fallen deeper in love with Stuart. He couldn't help himself, Stuart looked - and sounded - hungry in the library and if he could help him, then he would.

Murdoc raised his head from his desk. He was in his reading class, possibly the most boring class on his schedule. The only thing that kept him from jumping out the window in this class was the fact that he had his writing class next, the only class where he could see Stuart.

Whenever Stuart wasn't looking or was busy writing something, Murdoc wouldn't waste any time to admire his face from across the room. He obviously still had feelings for him, but Stuart hadn't even a clue.

Except that he might have one now.

Giving someone a candy bar doesn't necessarily represent love, does it? He hadn't even looked at Stuart when he gave it to him, so there's no way he should suspect that Murdoc felt anything for him.

Besides, it's not like anyone else saw them.

It was then that Murdoc's mind clicked. Of course, it was a genius idea. If he wanted to be with Stuart, all he had to do was be with him when no one was looking.

Now, it wouldn't be easy considering there were over a thousand kids that could see them together in the school campus. They could be together if they just hid it really well. He'd have to be especially careful around those bullies, though. If they saw them, he didn't want to imagine what they could do to Stuart.

It was now that he realized that he was planning all this undercover-dating situation when he didn't even know if Stuart liked him back at all. Maybe Stuart had already moved on from him. There was always the chance that he hadn't even eaten the candy bar and just thrown it away, along with all the feelings he had for Murdoc.

The bell rang and Murdoc hesitated to get up. If his suspicions were correct, he didn't have a chance with Stuart at all.

°°°•••°°°•••

When Murdoc walked into the classroom, he knew Stuart wouldn't be there yet. He was never there earlier than him because of how far his previous class was. Murdoc took a seat and waited for Stuart to walk through the door.

There was just a certain change in the air whenever Stuart walked into the class. It was as if he was a bright lamp in a dark, dark room. His loveliness would just fill the room and time seemed to pass slower as he took that first step into the class.

If his assumptions were correct, Stuart would be entering right about...now.

As if on cue, Stuart walked into the room, holding his journals at his chest. Murdoc wondered why Stuart didn't have his notebooks in his backpack. He couldn't hold back a smile as he pictured the other rushing to pack up his belongings in his last class. Damn, how could someone be so cute...

Stuart sat at his desk and Murdoc made sure to lower his stare so it wouldn't be as obvious that he was staring. He watched as Stuart rested his face on his hand, looking tired after so many classes. Stuart had half-lidded eyes and his mouth was slightly hanging open, a small drop of saliva falling out. He really looked worn out.

Of course, the dirty mind of his immediately pictured that image in a whole other context. Murdoc had to sit back a bit to make sure the image really left. After he made sure it was gone, he went back to admiring Stuart.

Now Stuart had set his head down, hiding all his face behind his crossed arms on the desk. Murdoc felt kind of ticked off that he couldn't see him anymore and instead began preparing for the class. Maybe later he could catch a glimpse of his face.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart walked home alone, it had become one of the things he didn't look forward to throughout the day. Whenever he had to walk back home, Stuart couldn't help but remember how Murdoc would walk him back and they'd talk about their day and laugh at his puns.

As he was turning the street, he saw a small cat on the opposite side of the road. It was white but looked dirty since it had been living outdoors. He crossed the road and walked up to the cat.

Stuart slowly bent down and pet the cat's fur. He had never owned any pets before since his mother didn't let him keep animals in the house. Nevertheless, he found animals in general to be adorable. Something about petting them was just relaxing for him. He bent down a bit lower and hugged the cat before he got up again. Stuart watched the cat walk around a tree and go into the abandoned house next to it.

He continued to walk home and fantasized about having a cat like that in his house.

°°°•••°°°•••

When Stuart got home, he went straight to his room to begin working on his notes. He hadn't studied in a while and figured he might as well do it since there was nothing else to do. When he was taking out his notebook, he sneezed. Stuart sniffed and put the notebook on his desk. As he was scooting in, he sneezed again, this time a bit louder.

He suddenly felt his eyes tear up and he tried wiping away the small tear that had escaped. When he wiped it, it began to feel itchy and he rubbed it again. The itch became extremely bothersome and it didn't help that he was sneezing every few seconds.

Stuart got out of his seat and walked out of his room. He got to the living room and sneezed loudly, getting the attention of both of his parents.

"M-Mom, I - ACHOO!"

She turned to look at him and gasped. "Stuart, you look terrible!"

She stood in front of him and observed his face. "Honey, did you get near peanuts again? You're all swollen!"

Stuart tried opening his mouth to talk but sneezed again. After sneezing all he got to say was "Cat!"

"A cat? Did you touch any cats on your way here?"

Stuart nodded and sniffed.

"You probably have some sort of cat allergy then. Go to your room, your father and I will go get something from the pharmacy."

Stuart walked to his room, still sneezing uncontrollably. His throat was beginning to feel sore and he laid down on his bed. All he could do now was wait for his parents to come back.

°°°•••°°°•••

While he was waiting, Stuart began feeling less itchy. His sneezing had calmed down and his throat felt normal again. All in all, it seemed as if his allergy attack was over. It had only been a few minutes, but those minutes had been the worst in his whole day.

Stuart had lost all interest in studying and instead decided he'd use the laptop again. Before doing so, though, Stuart served himself more vanilla ice cream. He served himself a bit more this time so it would last longer.

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed playing all those games online. As he was opening up the game he had last played, Stuart saw an advertisement for another game. He clicked on it and began playing that instead.

While he was playing, he saw a small box labeled "Chat" at the corner of the screen. Stuart clicked on it and a small window opened up. There were usernames in multiple colors typing in conversations.

Stuart had heard about chat groups before, but he hadn't ever really gotten into it. Besides, it's not like he knew anyone that he could start a group chat in. Maybe that's what was so shocking to Stuart. The fact that these people didn't even know each other but they were still so nice to each other made Stuart feel happy. He didn't want to type anything into the chat himself and instead closed the tab to open a new one.

Maybe if he entered a chat group, he could meet nice people like in the game.

°°°•••°°°•••

While looking for a chat room, Stuart found one that he thought sounded neat. It claimed to let you "meet friends near you", which sounded like fun. Maybe he could end up meeting them in real life and make friends near his house.

Stuart clicked on the website and was taken to a website with a pastel pink background. The website was waoting for a user to connect and Stuart waited anxiously for it.

He was eventually connected and he waited for them to finish typing.

_kinky01990: hey bby_

Stuart raised a brow but was still interested. It was neat to see people being so nice from the beginning of a conversation. He typed in his answer quickly.

_12D3: hi :)_

_kinky01990: wyd_

Stuart stared down at his ice cream cup and continued typing.

_12D3: eating ice cream_

_kinky01990: mm send some hot pics of u eating it ;)_

Stuart felt his face burn as he read that. He exited the website and took a moment to process it. What kind of people were on the Internet?!

Stuart almost didn't want to go back to the chat rooms, but maybe he had just gone into the wrong one. He opened a new page and began searching for chat rooms with stricter regulations.

°°°•••°°°•••

After several hours of chatting online with strangers, Stuart had created his own chat group where the people he found to be the nicest were. Of course, he left it open for other people to join since it'd be rude to lock interested people away. He had logged in as "candiipoof".

_kumquat: does anyone have any pet cats?? show pics :)_

_candipoof: i got a cat allergy reaction today_

_hoolawag: oh hope you feel better now :P_

**007 has joined the group**

_candipoof: hello :)_

Stuart saw he had a notification separated from his group chat. It read "007 wants to Private Message you."

Private message? Stuart didn't want to accept at first but he figured it couldn't be so bad. It's not like he had any personal information submitted into the laptop.

He clicked "Accept" and began typing.

_candipoof: hello?_

_007: hey_

_candipoof: how are you?_

_007: ugh not so great_

_candipoof: oh man...why? :(_

_007: have you ever ruined a relationship really badly and regretted it_

_candipoof: yeah recently :(_

_007: anyway wyd?_

_candipoof: eating ice cream and recovering from a cat allergy reaction_

_007: woah you alright?_

_candipoof: i'm better now, thanks :)_

Stuart smiled as he had finally fit himself into a proper conversation. "007" had been really nice, despite him having his doubts at first.

°°°•••°°°•••

After several hours of just talking to 007, he had discovered he was around his own age and even lived near his street. They had decided to not give any names and decided to not share any pictures. Stuart had enjoyed all that time of just talking to him. He felt at ease with him and didn't have to worry about stuttering or not having time to say what he meant. It was great.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart was eager to get to school. The fuel of his happiness was the conversation he had been having last night. As much as he wanted to meet this "007" in real life, he knew that the lack of any physical contact or real-life encounters was what made chatting so great. Stuart got ready to go to school and didn't forget to slip in his eye contacts.

Stuart felt as if he was walking through the clouds on his way to school. He unconsciously smiled all the way there and hummed a tune while he was at it.

When he got to the building, he made his way straight to his first class. While he was getting there, he heard someone talking in a class up ahead. It was a girl.

Stuart followed the voice and saw it was Paula talking on her phone.

She turned to look at him and smiled. "I'll call you back later," she said as she put down her phone.

"Hey, Stu, what's up?"

Stuart smiled at her and stood closer. "Nothing much, how about you?"

"Same, but I'm better now that you're here," she purred with a wink.

Stuart laughed nervously and started walking to the class. "See you in Home Economics! You look nice today," he said as he entered.

Paula stayed back and was a bit shocked at Stuart's comment but smiled as she turned to enter another class.

°°°•••°°°•••

For almost the entire rest of the day, Stuart had been smiling and dedicated to making his day great. He hadn't run into any bullies which surprised and relieved him to know. During second period, he had seen Noodle was already practicing more casual conversations. Although it was still broken English, she was definitely improving, which Stuart admired and envied. He would never be able to learn a foreign language nearly as quickly as Noodle could.

In Home Economics, Paula wouldn't stop talking to him about how she had carefully chosen her outfit that morning and how she appreciated that Stuart was the only one who had noticed it. All her talking almost made Stuart regret complimenting her, but he stayed and listened to every last bit of chit chat that she had to say. She seemed happy to be telling him all this and didn't once try to come on to him. Stuart was glad she had decided to start over and that now he had another new friend.

When his free period came around, he saw Russel still working on his Japanese. He told Stuart all about how the sentence structure was completely different and how there were all sorts of different symbols for everything. Stuart found it all to be very confusing yet interesting. However, whenever he asked questions that were probably obvious for Russel, the other would just sigh and continue reading.

That entire time, Stuart had observed all of their actions and words carefully. As unrealistic as it may have seemed, it could turn out that 007 was someone in his own circle of friends. He was quick to eliminate Noodle from the list since she couldn't form sentences as accurately as 007 had. That left Russel or Paula.

007 had said that he was a boy though, which left Russel.

The more he thought about it, the less it was likely that Russel could be 007. He didn't seem upset about ending a recent relationship the rest of the day and he definitely didn't look like if he had time for technology with all his studying for Japanese.

He thought about this until he reached his last period. The intimidating writing class.

Stuart walked in quickly, hoping to not catch the attention of anyone and by anyone, he meant Murdoc. When he made it to his seat unnoticed, he sighed and rested his chin on the desk. Murdoc was already seated and taking out his journal from his backpack.

Maybe Stuart was completely off with his suspicions. There was always the chance that he was wrong and that Murdoc didn't like him back at all. Maybe Murdoc had genuinely lost all interest in him and he just gave him the candy bar out of pity. Stuart looked down at his desk and felt the happy bubble that he had worked on building all day begin to burst. He opened his backpack and took out his journal, feeling like a big balloon that was slowly losing all its air. If Murdoc had lost interest in him, sure, it'd hurt him but he knew he could live with it.

Or so he liked telling himself.

°°°•••°°°•••

The class at long last finished and Stuart made his way back home. He had already forgotten about his bad mood in school as he remembered the chat room. Stuart, now feeling eager to get back to his chat room partner, hurried back home. It was the only thing he had been looking forward to all day and now that the time had come, he was itching to start talking with him again.

Stuart entered his house and saw his parents were nowhere to be seen again. They hadn't told him they'd be gone but he shrugged it off as he entered his room. He turned on the laptop and opened up the website again. As he was searching for the people who were online, he was a bit upset to see 007 wasn't logged in yet. He waited for a bit and reloaded the site several times to see if he would arrive. Still nothing.

Tired of waiting, Stuart got out of his room and searched for a quick snack in the kitchen to keep him distracted.

He opened up the fridge and several cupboards to search for a quick bite. Stuart settled with a bag of chocolate chips and went into his room. When he kept searching through the names, he saw 007 had logged in and clicked on his name to add him to his chat room.

Stuart waited for the screen to finish loading and began typing as soon as he finished connecting.

_candipoof: hi again_

_007: sorry i took a while, i was getting back from school_

_candipoof: hey i just got back too!_

_007: cool._

_candipoof: i hope you had a day as good as mine!_

_007: it was ok, but it could have been better_

_candipoof: what happened?_

_007: i didn't get to talk to someone special from school_

_candipoof: it's ok, i bet you'll be able to talk to them later :)_

_007: thanks_

_007: i wish i knew more people like you, you seem like a great guy_

Stuart felt overwhelmed with his comment but felt happy either way. He was glad he could at least make someone happy by being himself.

_candipoof: aw thanks_

_007: you said you live a few blocks away from your school, right?_

_candipoof: yeah_

_007: i wish we could meet up irl. we could talk without waiting a whole day_

_candipoof: yeah but i don't even know what you look like so i wouldn't find you :P_

_007: you're right_

_007: that was a dumb idea sorry_

Stuart wanted to tell him it wasn't a bad idea but he had replied again before he could say anything back.

_007: gotta go i might come back_

Stuart saw his username fade into a lighter shade, showing that he was now disconnected. He had wanted to continue chatting but he couldn't reach out to him anymore. Stuart closed the laptop as his conversation was cut short. 

With nothing to do anymore, Stuart laid back on his bed and thought about his day. He had managed to make absolutely no direct contact with Murdoc, a new accomplishment, considering he had previously been so terrible at that.

As he was thinking about it, he tried guessing who "007" could possibly be. He had said he went to the same school and lived a bit far away. He said he was "around his age". Maybe Stuart was older than him? As he was thinking, Stuart's mind took him to an unwanted place. Maybe it was a teacher?

He cringed as he imagined what that would be like. If it were someone that old, he would at least have told him. It wasn't legal for him to do that if he was underage, right?

Stuart decided that those were enough strange thoughts for one day and opened up his backpack to see if he had any homework. As he was looking through his multiple folders, he found nothing to work on. He had finished all his homework and now had nothing to do.

It was at moments like these that Stuart wished he had friends he could talk to out of school. Russel was great, but he had recently moved and now lived really far away from the school. He didn't even know much about Noodle, so she was off the list. And lastly, there was Murdoc.

Stuart had been trying so hard to not think about him, but it was very difficult. Now that he realized it, Stuart hadn't even gotten a chance to tell him how he really felt about him. He had imagined his an entire confession in which he would spill his heart out to the other. They would walk together through the streets as they held hands, not having a care in the world about what else happened around them.

Stuart stopped fantasizing and instead started to get out of his bed. Maybe he could find something else to distract him around his house, anything would work. He left his room and searched for an activity or anything. As he entered the living room, he felt everything was so lonely. With his parents gone and the clear sky beginning to turn into a stormy mess, the whole house had a depressing feel to it. 

Stuart went back into his room and checked the calendar hung next to his bed.

They were in the middle of the autumn months, which meant it'd only be a while until winter came rolling in. He pictured all the warm clothes he'd have to switch into and the fact that there'd be snow covering his entire front yard. Stuart liked the snow, but his mother never let him go out to enjoy it like everyone else. Because he was so ridiculously prone to any sickness, he didn't get to go out for the majority of the winter. Although Stuart thought it was unfair, he liked the fact that he could stay in and enjoy the view with a warm mug of hot chocolate.

For now, Stuart was stuck in the midst of October. It wasn't a horrible thing, he liked October. The fact that Halloween would be coming up in a week or two made him feel eager. Most kids at his age would just stay home and watch movies or hand out candies themselves, but Stuart didn't think like that at all. He still got into a costume and asked for candy around his neighborhood, but his mother had told him that last year was the last time he'd do it. Apparently, there was a limit to when you could get free candy.

This year, he would have to stay home and look out the window, picturing himself out in the street. Stuart sometimes wished he just wouldn't grow old and stay small forever. Well, he was never really a "small" kid in the first place, considering his height.

Stuart sat back on his bed and looked up. There was a small spiderweb at the corner of the ceiling. Stuart sat up and leaned against the wall. Maybe 007 had logged in now.

He opened up the laptop and waited for all the loading screens to pass. He was quick to open up the chat room and searched for "007".

Sure enough, he was connected and Stuart started the chat room with him.

_candipoof: hey you're back!_

_007: yeah i had to finish some stuff at home, sorry_

_candipoof: I had been meaning to ask_

_candipoof: are you older or younger than me?_

_007: maybe older_

_candipoof: like how old_

_007: i don't know, i'm 17_

_candipoof: phew_

_007: what, did you think I was thirty??_

_candipoof: at first, but im relieved that it's just a year_

_candipoof: so you're a junior year, right?_

_007: so you're a sophomore year then?_

_candipoof: ...oops_

_007: i knew a sophomore year and you remind me of him_

_candipoof: yeah i'm not too good at being different_

_007: doesn't make you any less special does it?_

_007: are you sure we can't meet up??_

_candipoof: wish we could_

_candipoof: how about when it snows for the first time, we agree to go somewhere together?_

_candipoof: then we can meet_

_007: that's long from now :(_

_candipoof: don't worry I bet time will fly by_

_007: hopefully_

Stuart felt happy as he looked down at the screen. If it was true, he'd have a new friend by the start of winter. This was great because he'd have someone to spend the holidays with and he wouldn't be stuck with his sometimes obnoxious distant family members. He'd finally have an excuse to not have awkward conversations with people and instead spend time with friends.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart had gone the rest of the afternoon talking with him again. They talked all about the upcoming holidays, their homework and even about what they imagined each one of them looked like.

When the night came, Stuart began getting tired. He liked talking with 007, the problem was staying up late enough to keep talking with him.

_candipoof: i'm getting a little tired now..._

_007: oh you wanna log off?_

_candipoof: but I don't wanna stop talking with you..._

_007: don't worry, I'll be here tomorrow too :)_

_candipoof: are u sure?_

_007: yeah_

_candipoof: ok then_

_candipoof: good night_

_007: night_

Stuart yawned and exited the website. He shut the laptop and put it on his bedside table. He tucked himself under his blankets and fixed his pillow. If he really met 007, he would be so excited.

For now, he needed to get sleep to prepare for the next day. Maybe he could find out who 007 was before winter arrived.


	9. Chapter 9

It had been almost a month since Stuart had started talking with 007. Almost a whole month since he had made little to no contact with Murdoc. As time had passed by, avoiding each other had become a lot easier and they almost never talked about each other at all. Instead, Stuart had spent more time with his other friends, Russel, Noodle and Paula.

Of course, he hadn't told any of them about his accident or how his eyes were now completely black. As far as they knew, Stuart had been gone because he was on a short vacation with his family. They saw little to no difference in his eyes because of the contacts which had become natural to put on in the mornings.

During Halloween, Stuart had just been forced to stay home and eat a small cake his mother had bought the previous night. Stuart stayed in his room as he chatted with 007 that night since he hadn't gone celebrating either. However, 007 said he decided not to go which started a tiny war in between the two.

But as time had passed, Stuart began doubting his previous feelings. He didn't know if he really liked Murdoc as much as he had told himself he had. Maybe he was getting over a small high school crush and moving on. Stuart realized he found himself thinking less and less about the other and more about when the weather would announce the first snow day.

Although no one seemed to notice it, the transition from October to November had been very drastic. The weather had become even colder and any day now could be the day in which snow would fall for the first time in the year.

As Stuart was making his way to school, he could see his breath in front of him. He often liked playing with the air and pretended he was smoking whenever he exhaled deeply. He rubbed his hands together to keep him warm as a cool breeze passed right by him. The loose hoodie that his mother had sent him to school with wasn't of much help for keeping him warm. He crossed the street to get to school and was relieved to feel the warmth of the building embrace him as soon as he walked in. Many students were wearing much warmer clothes and he felt a but jealous to see everyone wearing huge coats that kept them warm no matter where they were. 

Stuart looked around at the various tables that all the students were sitting in. He was searching for Russel or Noodle and found them sitting near the exit door. He walked towards them and greeted them when he arrived.

He took a seat next to both of them and heard them continue their conversation.

"Well, when it's like that it's plural," Russel told Noodle.

She seemed confused as she tilted her head. "Plu...ro?"

"Yeah, it's more than one. Just add an 's'", he explained.

She nodded and jotted down notes in her journal. "So...I love...cats?"

"Yeah, that's all there's to it," Russel said.

She smiled and put her notebook back into her bag. When she looked back up, she simply waved at Stuart and continued talking with Russel.

Stuart didn't feel offended by it, in fact, he liked how she got along so well with Russel. He turned his attention away from both of them and instead looked out into the rest of the lunchroom. There were people coming in and out, standing or sitting, talking or listening. Any of these students could be 007. He kept his eyes wide open, searching for a clue or anything that could help him find out the other's identity. He observed everyone's behavior, anything that could possibly match the little bit he knew of his chat room partner.

Stuart soon realized it was useless to search for him when he had absolutely no clue of what he looked like. He lost interest in the crowd and instead put his head down to catch up on his much-needed sleep. 

The downside to chatting with 007 was that he would have to stay up for very extended periods of time. Sometimes, he would only get two or three hours of sleep because of how late he stayed up. This was starting to take a toll on his grades and school work in general and it was definitely showing. All his classes had dropped down at least one grade, but he didn't dare to tell anyone, especially his mother. If she found out, she wouldn't let him use the laptop ever again.

However, Stuart didn't think his grades dropping was a major problem at the moment. He still had a month or two to bring up his grades before the final grades came in. He knew any day now would be the day he'd meet up with 007 and after that, he'd be able to sleep in for as long as he wanted. Stuart was just beginning to doze off when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He looked up and saw it was Paula.

"Oh, when did you get here, Paula?", he asked. She only smiled and started taking out something from her backpack.

"This is for you," she said as she handed him a small box. "Open it when you're alone."

Stuart looked down at the box, curious about what could be inside. He looked back up at her and thanked her as she went back to her table.

Stuart held on to the box and looked up to see Noodle and Russel staring at him.

"What?", he asked.

"Dude, Paula's definitely into you," Russel said. Stuart furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head.

"No, no, no. Last time she told me she wanted to start over as friends. That's all."

Russel laughed and slapped Stuart's back. "Well, she had to start from somewhere. It's obvious that she likes you, you should ask her out."

Stuart sighed as he put the box in his backpack. "I can't ask her out if I don't like her like _that_."

"What?! You don't?! But she's perfect for you, you never know when you'll meet someone like that again!", Russel shouted.

"Well then I'm willing to wait," he said.

"No way. Noodle, what do you think?", Russel asked.

She tapped her pen on her chin as she thought about what to say. "Date distract you from school. Study more," she finished.

"Exactly," Stuart said.

Russel rolled his eyes. "You know you don't even have to worry about studying. You're an okay-level smart."

Stuart didn't want to correct Russel because if he did, he'd be lectured on how using electronic devices until midnight was irresponsible. Instead, he just nodded and pretended to agree with him.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart spent the rest of the day half asleep and exhausted but excited with the whole snow day event. Lots of students were actually hoping it would snow, that way they'd take the day off and stay in the warmth of their homes. It was this that had Stuart worried for when the day arrived.

If they took the day off when it snowed, he'd have to find a way to convince his mother to let him leave the house. She already didn't allow him to leave the house unless it was an emergency, he could only imagine what she'd say if it was snowing and he wanted to leave. 

When he got back home, Stuart entered into the warmth of his house and the sweet smell of chocolate. He looked around in the kitchen to see if his mother was making a cake or something but instead saw there was a note taped to the door.

_Stuart  
There was an emergency with your aunt in the next city over, we'll be back by maybe tomorrow. Take care_

Stuart was almost used to his parents being out of the house by this point and paid no mind to the note. He left his backpack on the floor of the living room and hurried to his room so he could begin chatting.

He already had his laptop turned on since before he had gone to school to get chatting with 007 sooner. Once he found his username, he was quick to begin chatting with him.

_candipoof: hey did you see the weather today? It's almost time for it to snow_

_007: I saw. I really can't wait already_

_007: we should decide where to meet up, it might happen any time now_

_candipoof: you're right_

_candipoof: where should it be?_

_007: maybe in front of the school_

_candipoof: I'd prefer it if it were a bit more discreet_

_007: right_

_007: how about in the park near the school?_

Stuart felt his heart drop when he read it. It reminded him of his past experience with that park. Something about meeting up there with someone else after Murdoc had invited him seemed wrong. Although that memory was still unclear, he didn't feel quite comfortable going back there with someone that wasn't Murdoc.

Stuart realized he was thinking of Murdoc in a much more romantic way and stopped himself. As he assessed the situation a second time, he realized meeting there with 007 wouldn't be such a bad idea. It could commemorate a new beginning to a chapter in his life. He looked down at the chat box and saw 007 had already responded.

_007: hey, are you there?_

_007: maybe we should meet somewhere else?_

_candipoof: no, it's okay_

_candipoof: we'll meet there after school :)_

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart woke up from a nightmare. He didn't really remember what had happened, but it must have been pretty terrible if it had awakened him. He looked down at the bed sheets, which were drenched in sweat like himself. He got out of bed and sat at his desk. He needed a bit of relaxation before he could go back to sleep.

It was just four in the morning, which meant he should've gotten up two hours later. Stuart didn't want to be falling asleep in class - even more than usual - and decided he'd try to fall asleep on his desk. He took one of the extra pillows on his bed and placed it on his desk to sleep on. Just as he was shutting his eyes, he could see through the window that something looked to be falling from the dark sky.

He reached out for the curtain and saw snow was starting to fall. Stuart was quick to get up and got closer to the window. There were small patches of snow starting to cover the backyard. He left his room silently and got close to he living room window. From there, he saw his front yard had even more snow piling on it.

Although the sky was still very dark, the snow was slowly falling on the ground. He felt happiness as he knew what would happen later that day. He'd finally get to meet 007.

°°°•••°°°•••

The rest of those two hours, Stuart wasn't able to get any sleep. The adrenaline rush he had lasted all that time and it didn't let him sleep. When it was finally time for him to leave, he put on a jacket thicker than yesterday's and a pair of gloves. 

While he was getting ready, Stuart packed one of the bigger plush toys on his desk and put it in a large shopping bag. It'd make a nice gift for when he saw 007.

He was ready to head out when he heard his mother coming out of her room.

Stuart went back to tell her the news, or weather forecast in this situation.

"Look! It's snowing outside!", he said as he pointed out the window.

She looked out and nodded. She turned to look at him and glared. "You know how sick you get in this weather, a jacket isn't going to keep you warm! Go wait in your room while I find your winter clothes," she shouted.

Stuart got back into his room, feeling shocked at how his mother had just yelled at him. He sat on his bed, waiting for his mother to come in from the other room.

"Here," she said as she entered the room with a pile of clothes.

Stuart looked down at it and then back up at her. "Which one of these do I put on?"

"All of them," she said as she walked out.

He looked down at it, wide-eyed. In what order was he even supposed to put it on?

°°°•••°°°•••

Eventually, Stuart had managed to put all of the clothes on and he felt extremely warm in it. He was wearing a turtleneck shirt under a thick cotton coat. Above that was a wool sweater, his hoodie from yesterday and an even bigger coat that reached down to above his knees. He was wearing two scarves and a pair of earmuffs, which were hidden under a wool hat.

To top it all off, he was wearing fuzzy boots and leg warmers over his pants. Although it was a bit uncomfortable, he did feel a lot warmer than yesterday when he walked out of the house.

He could barely see what was in front of him due to the scarves almost hiding his vision completely. His hair was even hidden under the hat and earmuffs. When he got to the school building, he saw a crowd was forming at the main entrance. He pushed his way to the front and saw Russel and Noodle standing near a sign at the door.

He walked over to them and tried talk but only a muffled sound came out.

It seemed that they didn't recognize him under all the clothes, so he pulled at both scarves and spoke again.

"Hey, what happened?", he asked.

They both had to stare at him a bit longer to fully recognize him and Russel was the first to answer.

"School's closed because of the snow. It's not even that much, but everyone's waiting for teachers to come out and explain everything."

Stuart sighed and tucked his scarves back up. Maybe he really wouldn't meet up with 007. He was about to start walking back home when he heard the main door open. A teacher came out, holding several papers.

"Alright, listen up. School's been canceled for today because of the weather. Go back home and explain to your parents why you're not in class. We'll send calls home to prove that you aren't lying to them," she finished.

All the student began talking again and walked away from the main entrance. There were kids going to completely different places, some to their houses, some to the stores and some would just walk around through the street. He even saw Russel and Noodle begin to walk to the convinience store at the street corner.

Stuart decided he should go home and call it a day. He could just tell 007 he couldn't make it and that he was sorry. It's not like they wouldn't be able to chat anymore.

As he thought about it, Stuart decided he'd wait a while longer. Maybe if he waited at the park, he could find him and get things done with. Besides, it'd only be for a little bit.

Stuart made his way to the park and sat at a bench that faced towards the street. Many students were at the park too, just talking on the benches and some waiting for their parents to pick them up.

After a few minutes of waiting, several cars began pulling up and students eagerly entered to go back home. The park grew much more silent as his fellow classmates and other students he didn't recognize started leaving. There was eventually almost no one left and the few who had stayed had started getting up to walk home. 

Stuart held on tightly to the ends of his coat. Just a while longer.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart had already grown tired of waiting. No one had shown up after everyone had left and he was starting to drift off into sleep. He rubbed his eyes and stretched in his seat. Once he got up, he started walking in the direction of his house. The crunch of the snow under his boots was nice to hear. What wasn't nice to hear was a separate pair of footsteps walking several meters from behind him.

Stuart stopped walking but didn't turn around. The footsteps stopped too and he didn't want to turn around to see who it was out of fear and shock.

"Um...are you...candipoof?"

Stuart felt his face start glowing as he heard it. It was really him! He prepared himself to see who 007 really was and felt his heart trying to escape his chest.

He turned around to find who his chat buddy had been all that time, he'd finally find out.

Murdoc?!

Stuart felt like if he had just been hit in the head with a frying pan as he saw him. He dropped the shopping bag and his legs began shaking. He felt his soul slowly leaving his body and his mind going blurry. He could faint right then and there.

When he got a hold of himself he nodded slowly. Murdoc sighed in relief and walked up to him.

"I didn't know you'd be here, I was on the opposite end of the park," he explained through a nervous laugh.

Stuart wanted to just hide inside all his coats and shirts and just live in that warmth forever, where he'd never have to go through frightening situations like this ever again. Although he was already hidden in his clothes pretty well.

"Let's take a seat," Murdoc said as he signaled Stuart to the bench. He followed him slowly and sat next to him.

He glanced at Murdoc and saw he was only wearing a hoodie to keep him warm. His hands were trembling a bit, either from the weather or because he was nervous.

Now that he realized it, it didn't seem to bother Murdoc that Stuart had been his chat partner the entire time. It was strange to talk to him again after so long. 

Unless, he didn't know it was him.

Stuart was just about to tell him who he was when Murdoc started talking.

"I didn't introduce myself yet, I'm Murdoc. Murdoc Niccals. And you?"

Stuart felt his face burning under the scarves as he asked him. He really didn't know it was him at all.

Stuart hesitated, but he pulled down his scarf and looked up at the other.

Murdoc's jaw dropped when he saw him. He definitely looked surprised, but it was as if his brain was still trying to comprehend what the heck was going on. When he seemed to catch on, he hid his face in his hands and started laughing quietly.

At least Stuart heard it as laughing. He could be crying, but he really had no reason to do it.

"Oh, man this is awkward," he said into his hands. Stuart looked down at his knees and nervously fidgeted with his coat sleeves. He really had nothing to say since he was as shocked as Murdoc was.

Stuart didn't look up at Murdoc to avoid feeling even more nervous.

"You must be disappointed, right?", Stuart laughed as he tried hiding his sadness.

"Why would you...", Murdoc started. He sighed and looked around to make sure no one was around before he started talking.

"Listen, there's something - well, there's a lot that I have to explain," he said. Stuart turned to look at him and raised a brow.

"It may come as a lot now, but I just haven't been able to keep it to myself this entire month. Stuart, I genuinely like you," he finished.

Stuart felt his heart skip a beat as he said that. He looked around the park to see if there was anyone hiding and waiting to see his reaction.

"The reason why I had to stop getting along with you was because of those bullies. They threatened to hurt you if I kept protecting you, so I did what was best for you," Murdoc added.

Stuart shook his head and looked down, "You didn't do it for me. I know those guys because I've dealt with them for so long now. They'd never try seriously hurting me."

"Well, not if you didn't have anyone there to stand for you," he responded.

Stuart avoided looking at Murdoc because of how his face must've been bright red at that comment. He kept his stare lowered as Murdoc continued.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk to me either way, but I'd like you to know the truth, I guess," he said.

Stuart looked up at Murdoc and noticed he was slightly trembling with the weather. He unbuttoned one of his coats and took out one of his scarves. When he did, he sheepishly handed it to Murdoc.

"Oh, no it's fine, I'm good," Murdoc said.

Stuart took the scarf and put it at Murdoc's lap. "Wear it."

Murdoc didn't want to take it, but he still ended up wrapping it around his neck to keep him warm. With every breath he took, he got the strong smell of Stuart from the scarf and, man, did the amazing smell have him melting under the cloth.

"So, you...you really didn't mean any of what you said back then?", Stuart asked.

"None of it at all. It hurt me as much as it hurt you," he answered.

Stuart wasn't sure if he believed him, but he didn't say anything. At this point, he didn't even know if he could trust Murdoc. He could be lying to him again and cruelly planning on tricking him. However, something about everything he was saying just sounded very real. He sounded as if he was being relieved from a lot of what was weighing him down. Maybe he could trust him.

"If you really mean it, then I guess we can be friends again...", he muttered.

Friends. Right.

Murdoc nodded and pretended to agree. "Yeah..."

The tension was extremely high since neither of them knew what to say to the other. It's not like there was much to say at that point. Murdoc scooted closer to Stuart, slow enough to almost go unnoticed.

"I hope we can...start on good terms?", he asked. Stuart nodded once but didn't move. Murdoc didn't want to make the younger boy uncomfortable, but he kept trying to continue the conversation.

"If I can ask, what did your letter say? I didn't really get a chance to read it."

Stuart was about to tell him when he suddenly remembered he had almost made a love confession in that letter. He felt his cheeks turn red as he tucked a strand of hair behind his ear.

"It didn't say anything important, it was just an update on...on my hospital status," he lied.

Of course Stuart was a terrible liar and it was easy for Murdoc to see through that. Despite his poor excuse, Murdoc acted as if he believed him.

"Oh! But there was something I wanted to show you," Stuart said as he lowered his head. Murdoc watched as he picked at his eye and tried taking out what he could assume we're his eye contacts.

"There," Stuart mumbled as he looked up. He turned to look at Murdoc, smiling as he waited for his reaction.

"Woah!", Murdoc let out, "They look...really dark."

Stuart couldn't help but to laugh at his reaction. Even though he hadn't talked with him in so long, it felt as if nothing had really been lost.

"So, what were you doing talking to strangers in a chat room?", Stuart asked as he started putting the contacts back in.

"Oh, right," Murdoc started, "I was just looking for someone to talk to, I guess. Once you left, I had no one to hang out with."

Stuart was a little shocked to hear that. There was no way Murdoc didn't have anyone else to talk to other than him. He was so cool and he could only imagine people were dying to be friends with him.

"Why were _you_ in a chat room?", Murdoc asked with a smirk.

"Well, my parents bought me a laptop and I used it to play games most of the time. One thing led to another and I ended up in a chat room," Stuart said.

Murdoc simply nodded and turned away from Stuart. They were really out of conversation material. Murdoc didn't want to ask what he had been doing the last month because he was sure Stuart would ask him back, and he just wasn't ready to tell him what he had been up to.

Instead, Murdoc was planning on leaving and maybe seeing Stuart some other time in school. This entire time, he had been dying to see Stuart again, but now that it was happening, he just wanted it to end.

Before he could make a move, Stuart got up and looked down at Murdoc. 

"Well, it was nice seeing you again...", Stuart said as he slowly walked away. "I'll see you in school...tomorrow? That's if we don't have another snow day."

"Yeah, okay," Murdoc sighed as he smiled at him, "See you tomorrow."

Stuart gave Murdoc one last smile and walked away. Murdoc watched him as he made his way to the street corner, not looking back even once.

"Oh! Wait, Stuart!", Murdoc called, "You forgot your...scarf..."

Stuart hadn't heard him and had continued to head home. Murdoc looked down at the scarf and decided he'd just go home and return it to him the next day.

When he got home, he took off the scarf and just held it in front of him. Murdoc brought it up to his face and smelled it.

He had something that belonged to Stuart, that was creepy on its own. But now he was sniffing it, which somehow managed to double up how creepy it was. As weird as he felt while doing it, Murdoc just couldn't get enough of Stuart's scent in the scarf. Although he loved the smell, he couldn't even pin down what it was. It was something he had never smelled before, obviously, yet it seemed as if that smell was so familiar.

Murdoc put the scarf in his backpack and headed out of his house with it. He had decided he'd spend the rest of the day outside, looking for something to do.

Either way, the weather was nice.


	10. Chapter 10

Stuart had to explain to his mother why he had gone back home so quickly and before the school day even started. When it was clear for her, she just reminded him he still couldn't leave the house because of the weather. Soon after, she had to leave to a job interview she had been hoping to find the past month. She had decided to work as a nurse in the same hospital that Stuart had stayed in, which was pretty far away from their home. Stuart was glad she had finally been able to work in a hospital - like she had wanted for a while now - but he was still rather upset that now he'd have to stay home alone even more than usual.

Sometimes his own personal time was a good thing, but having a limited number of friends often made him feel bored and lonely when no one else was around. He would've used this time to keep chatting online, but now that he knew who 007 was, it felt a little strange to talk so casually with him.

Speaking of which, Stuart was still a bit in shock about finding out who 007 was. It seemed a bit surreal that such a coincidence was even possible. Now that he thought about it, he probably should've taken a clue from all the small hints that were dropped in their long conversations. Stuart got nervous as he remembered everything he had told 007 and how some of his personal emotions had been revealed when they first started talking. He hoped he hadn't mentioned anything about how he felt for Murdoc.

Stuart went to his room to change out of all his clothes and into anything more comfortable. As he was removing his scarf, he realized one of them was missing. He panicked a bit as he tried remembering where he had left it but stopped when he remembered. He had given it to Murdoc.

He didn't think much of it since he could just get it the next day in school or any time in which he saw Murdoc again. Stuart changed into a large shirt and his pajama pants. He laid down on his bed and started drifting deep into his own thoughts. He was nervous yet glad that he had managed to partially mend Murdoc's and his friendship. All they really needed was to just start all over as friends. Good friends.

Stuart had told himself this hundreds of times and made sure he fixed it into his mind ever since Murdoc had told him he really did not mean everything he had said. He had decided he'd forget anything love-related he had once felt for Murdoc a long time ago. Murdoc didn't like him the way Stuart had once liked him, he knew that much. Since they both liked each other as friends now, they could start over and make their friendship work.

Stuart looked out the window and saw his entire backyard was full of snow. The only tree that was there had lost its leaves back in October and was now holding small piles of snow on several branches. He watched as the snow fell to the floor, gently and silently. It made him feel a bit sleepy, the snow falling down so slowly. He opened his window a bit to see the snow clearer and felt the cold air on his face as it slid open. He was cold, but he didn't mind it. Instead, he reached his hand out the window to catch the small snow particles.

When he pulled his hand back in, he saw all the snow beginning to melt. It had turned into water almost as soon as it had touched his hand. Stuart got out of bed and looked around in his drawer for a pair of gloves, maybe he'd be able to see it better if it all landed on cloth.

He slipped on a pair of gloves and reached out the window again. He brought his arm back in and observed the snow he had collected. When he looked closer, he saw each small particle had a detailed design. Snowflakes.

He smiled and was about to reach out for more when he heard his phone ringing. He grabbed his phone and took off one glove to answer as he read the contact name. It was his mother.

"Hello?", Stuart answered.

"Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I'll be gone for a little longer than planned. I got a phone call from another hospital and they said that the latest my interview could happen was today. So I'm going to to the first one and then going over to the next hospital right after. Are you okay staying home alone?"

Stuart nodded but then remembered it was a phone call and answered out loud. "When might you come back?"

"Maybe some time after noon," she responded.

"Yeah, I can wait until then," he said.

"Alright, take care and don't answer the door to strangers," she finished.

Stuart agreed and ended the call. He had an entire afternoon to himself, all alone in his house with nothing keeping him company aside from his thoughts. He wanted to go outside, but he knew he wouldn't be allowed since one of the nosy neighbors would most likely tell his mother about it.

Stuart couldn't talk to any real people either since he didn't live near any of his friends, with the exception of Murdoc - however, things were still blurry with him and he wasn't sure if he could quite trust him.

Stuart figured he'd just stay in and study for his up upcoming tests since the end of the school year was just around the corner.

°°°•••°°°•••

When his mother got home, she greeted Stuart eagerly and went straight to her room to phone her friends about how her interviews had gone. He assumed she had gotten the job and simply went back to studying.

The first hour of studying had just been Stuart listening to people outside enjoying the day and having fun. There was laughter and a few screams as snowball fights took place. He shut the window after an hour and muffled the sound of those playing outside as he worked himself to death indoors. It wasn't fair, but he knew it was in his own best interest to stay inside and to not catch a cold outside.

Nothing had really happened during his time indoors. There was only studying and studying as he read over his notes several hundreds of times. He didn't want to continue memorizing his notes since his migraines were starting to kick in again and they were getting really bad really quickly.

Stuart went to the kitchen to get a cup of water and then to the cupboard over the bathroom sink to take out the bottle of pills his doctor had prescribed. They were supposed to stop his headaches, but they had become less and less effective with each dose. Either way, he gulped down the pills with water and waited for the effects to kick in.

With nothing left to do, Stuart went to his bedroom and laid in bed for a quick nap. He set his alarm to five o'clock so he could wake up a good two hours later and tucked himself under his blankets.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart woke up from possibly the strangest dream he had ever had. In his dream, he was standing in a snowy field with a single pine tree behind him. Below him was a small patch of grass and a few flowers. When he bent down to see the flowers, he saw a worm come out of one of the flower petals. It froze as soon as it came out and shattered as the sound of strong winds came from the distance.

Once he was fully awake, he sat up, stretched and rubbed his eyes. Two hours had passed oddly fast.

He got out of bed and went straight to the bathroom. After his break, he went to the kitchen and saw it was completely empty. The lights were turned off and he didn't hear a single sound coming from any of the rooms. Stuart took his phone put of his pocket to check the time. He let out a gasp as he saw it was already six in the morning.

Had he really slept through his alarm? Stuart counted the hours he had slept. If he had started his nap at three o'clock and it was now six, that meant he had fallen asleep for a total of fourteen hours!

He went to the bathroom sink to wash out his face. When he finished wiping his face, he looked at the sink and saw the orange bottle of pills on the counter. He picked it up and checked what they were. They were the pills to treat his slight insomnia.

Stuart felt a bit panicked but decided he'd just stay awake now and get ready for school since there were only two hours until it started. He got his clothes ready and wore the many coats from yesterday. He still brought his hat and earmuffs with him. They weren't of much use, but he thought he looked nice in both.

After having breakfast and getting some money ready, he walked out of his house and silently closed the door behind him. The weather wasn't as intense as yesterday since all that was left was the cold wind and the remaining snow. There was nothing falling from the sky.

He still had a little over an hour to get to class and stopped by the convinience store near the school.

When he went in, he heard the TV was announcing that most electronic devices would not be able to connect due to the upcoming snow storms.

He entered and saw Paula was standing in line. She saw Stuart and walked over to him with a smile.

"Hey, I didn't see you yesterday!", she greeted. Stuart just smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

"Did you read the note?", she asked.

Note? Stuart had no idea what she was talking about. He tried hard to remember anything about a note when he remembered the box she had given him. Stuart had completely forgotten to open it but he couldn't tell her. It'd be rude to tell her the truth.

"Yeah, thanks for that...", Stuart said.

She widened her smile and stepped closer to him. "Well, you'll know where to find me today, right?"

Stuart didn't move for a bit but then nodded. "Yeah...um, where was it again?"

"Oh, you're so funny and cute," she laughed. With one last giggle, she turned around to stand in line again. Stuart stood dumbfounded as she went back to waiting. He walked out of the store without buying anything and instead decided he'd go straight to school.

When he reached the main building, the gate was already opened and he headed inside. He saw the sign from yesterday was gone and he entered to the warmth of the building. He took off his hat and made his way to the library.

Stuart sat at a table near the corner of the library. He opened up his backpack and looked around for Paula's gift. He saw the small box at the bottom of the backpack and pulled it out. Inside was a smaller box with chocolates and a folded paper. He opened it up and saw it was all written in red ink with very fancy handwriting.

_Dear Stuart,_

_I have a big secret to tell you and I think now the time is right. Meet me in the hall of our Home Economics class after school._

_xoxo - Paula_

Stuart realized that the hallway where he was to meet up with Paula that day was the same hallway that the unused storage room was in. That room was where he had been locked up with Murdoc in. He grinned as he realized that he was revisiting the same places where he had been alone with Murdoc several times in the past.

Stuart put the note back in the box and got his backpack ready so he could leave. He didn't really have anything else to do in the library and it'd be better to spend the rest of the hour in his first period class. On his way out of the library, he left the books he had previously checked out on the counter.

Although he wasn't interested in Paula, he didn't want to pass off as rude and decided he'd meet up with her just to get it over with. Maybe she really had something important to tell him.

°°°•••°°°•••

After extremely long classes and stressing teachers, Stuart had finally made it to his fifth period. That was when he finally had his free period. He went to the library - as usual - and saw Russel was already in there - again, as usual.

He sat next to him and sighed.

"Today's been going so slowly...", Stuart mumbled. He stretched his arms in front of him and laid his chin on the table.

Russel didn't respond and just flipped the page in his book. Stuart looked up at him and glared.

"I forgot to mention, I'm meeting up with Paula after school," Stuart said.

Russel looked up immediately and smiled. "I told you she liked you."

Stuart rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. "She doesn't, she just said she wanted to tell me something."

"She wants to tell you she likes you, obviously," Russel said.

Stuart furrowed his eyebrows and looked away from the other.

"I don't get why you keep denying it. She seems nice and she really likes you."

"Well, I just want to be her friend. Besides, I'm not ready for that type of relationship," Stuart said, "It's like if I told you to start dating Noodle."

Russel cleared his throat and buried his face back into his book, "Those are two completely different things."

Stuart put his head down and looked at the floor.

"At least give her a chance and see what she's like," Russel finished.

Stuart lifted his head and nodded. "But I won't do anything else other than that."

"No one's asking you to," he responded.

Stuart was about to tell Russel about his encounter with Murdoc but decided it was best to hold back. If Russel found out, he'd most likely get mad again and he didn't want to rehash that fight.

Instead, Stuart put his backpack on the table and took out the note from the box. He slid it in front of Russel and looked at him.

"Read it. You'll realize she really doesn't mean it like that."

Russel took the note and held it in front of him. When he finished reading it, he laughed and looked back up at Stuart.

"This couldn't be a more obvious set up for a love confession," he said.

"I already told you it's not that!"

"Explain the x's and o's then."

Stuart looked down at the note. "Hugs and...friend-kisses."

Russel burst into laughter and hid his face in his hand. "What even is a 'friend-kiss'?"

Stuart shrugged but still felt humiliated. "I really just want to be friends with her, is it too much to ask?"

Russel stopped laughing and rested his chin on his hand. "Maybe for her it is, yeah."

Stuart was about to turn on his phone to find the comic he had previously been reading but was greeted by a network error screen. It was then that he remembered the news from the morning, that all phones would be having trouble to work due to the snow storms.

He sighed and picked up his backpack. Stuart took the note from the table and pushed in his chair.

"If she really means it in a friendly way, you'll owe me big time," Stuart said. Russel just nodded as he held back a laugh.

Stuart walked out of the room, feeling eager but also anxious for his encounter after school.

°°°•••°°°•••

Now that he was in the last few minutes of his writing class, Stuart felt rather nervous about how his encounter could go. Maybe Paula really did like him that way? What would happen if she did? He knew he wasn't ready to go there with anyone.

His thoughts were interrupted with the teacher's voice.

"We'll be leaving in a few minutes, so feel free to do what you want for the rest of class," she announced.

All the students got out of their seats. Some of them walked over to other desks and some of them just stayed seated with their things ready to leave. Stuart put his journal into his backpack and zipped it up. As he was putting it on, he looked up and saw Murdoc was walking towards him.

Stuart sat up and looked at him. "Hey, what do you need?"

Murdoc looked around the room nervously as he struggled to find the right words. "Well, I don't know how to put this, but I wanted to - well, really I had to tell you - but..."

Stuart waited for him to finish what he was trying to say. He hoped he would find the words soon because he was just waiting for the bell to ring so he could dash out of the room.

"You remember how yesterday you, um, you let me borrow your...your - what's it called? Oh, your..."

Whatever Murdoc had said was drowned with the loud bell ringing.

"My what?", Stuart asked. He got out of his seat and began slowly making his way to the door.

"Your scarf, remember?"

"Oh!", Stuart said, "Yeah, can it wait? I really have somewhere to go..."

Murdoc looked shocked for half a second but just nodded after, "It can wait..."

"Thanks," Stuart said as he began picking up speed. He walked out of the door and rushed to the first floor. If he was quick, he could just get it over with and go home.

He went into the hallway and searched through the corners where rooms were to see if Paula was already there. He walked all the way to the end of the hallway and saw she was nowhere to be found. Stuart figured he might have gotten there a bit early and waited. He looked into several classroom windows to see if she might be in there. Nothing.

After waiting for a short while, the sound of students exiting the building died out and all that was left was the odd silence in the empty hallway.

Just as he was peaking into another classroom, he heard her voice behind him.

"Hey, you're here!", Paula said. Stuart turned around and smiled rather forcefully.

"Sorry I'm late, my stupid teacher wouldn't let me leave. Thanks for waiting for me."

Stuart laughed and rubbed his arm. "What did you wanna tell me?", he asked.

She walked closer to him and looked into his eyes, "I'll tell you, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone else."

Stuart nodded and waited for her to say it. She signaled for him to lean in closer and he did as he was told.

When Stuart was almost nose-to-nose with her, she started tilting her head and began wrapping her arms around his neck.

Stuart was much too scared to even move when he heard someone walking into the hall. He shut his eyes tightly and waited for the worst.

"Hey! I have your..."

Both Paula and Stuart turned to see who it was.

"Scarf..."

Murdoc?!

Stuart stepped away from Paula and looked at him then back at Paula.

"I'm...sorry if I bothered you," Murdoc said as he turned around and walked away from them.

Stuart was in absolute shock as he saw Murdoc disappear into the corner of the hallway and as Paula stood in front of him.

"What a weird guy," she said. "Anyway, what were we in?"

Stuart fixed his backpack strap and ran out of the hallway, chasing after Murdoc. He had to catch up with him.

When he reached the indoor gym, he only heard the exit door closing, along with the slight breeze entering the building. He hurried to the door and opened it. He was greeted to the outdoors with a strong wave of wind and the cold air. Murdoc was walking away from the school with the scarf in his hand. He ran and called out to him to catch up with the other boy.

When he reached him, Stuart grabbed him by the shoulder and caught his breath. Murdoc turned to look at him with an unreadable expression.

"Murdoc, that wasn't...what you think it was!", Stuart said, each exasperated breath creating a small cloud in front of him.

"What was?", he asked.

"With Paula, I-I wasn't... kissing her or anything like that!"

"Oh, is that what you were doing? I didn't even realize."

"No, that's what I was _not_ doing!", Stuart said.

"Right. I don't really care either way, so..."

"I know, I know," Stuart said, "But I'm just asking you to not tell anyone about what you saw! Especially Russel!"

Murdoc looked at him with an unamused stare. "I just said I didn't care."

Stuart looked at him, still catching his breath, "You really don't?"

"No, I don't. Now - if you don't mind - I have to go home," Murdoc said as he walked over to his car.

"Wait, wait, wait!", Stuart cried as he followed Murdoc.

Murdoc sighed. "What?"

"You really can't tell Russel. I mean it!"

"I mean it too when I say I don't give a damn about what I saw," he responded as he opened his car door.

Stuart watched him enter the car and stood at the door. He tapped the window and waited for Murdoc to roll it down.

"Ugh, what do you want?"

"You can't tell...", Stuart mumbled, "Also, wh-when'd you get a car?"

Murdoc rolled his eyes. "A while ago."

"It-It looks really nice..."

Murdoc turned to look at Stuart with a puzzled expression. "Are you trying to bribe me so I don't tell your friend that you were making out with that girl?"

Stuart sighed, "I told you I wasn't kissing her! And I'm not bribing you..."

Murdoc was about to explode in frustration. If Stuart seriously kept asking him to keep quiet, he would drive to that guy's house and tell him right then and there.

"You can't tell him, okay?! That would be the end of me for, like...forever!"

Murdoc nodded and gave him a sarcastic smile as he rolled up the window, with Stuart still trying to talk to him.

When the window was fully rolled up, Stuart tapped his finger against the glass again to get his attention. Murdoc was just about to drive off when he saw a group of people walking in their direction through the rear-view mirror. It was those bullies.

Murdoc jumped when he heard something bump into the window next to him. Stuart was on his knees, pressing his face against the glass with a pained expression. He could hear his muffled voice through the glass telling him to forget everything he had seen.

With a little bit of time to act before those bullies saw him, Murdoc opened the car door, causing Stuart to fall back on the snow with an "oof!".

"Get up," Murdoc said as he grabbed Stuart by his arm.

Stuart looked at him, completely confused and slightly scared.

"Wh-Where are you taking me..?", Stuart asked.

"Just get in the car!", Murdoc urged him. He pulled Stuart by his arm to the opposite side of the car and opened the door for him.

"You promise you won't tell anyone?", Stuart asked.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just get in!"

Stuart stepped into the car and Murdoc closed the door shut. He walked back to his side of the car and got in. Murdoc started the car as soon as he got in and drove off, keeping an eye on where the bullies were headed.

When he turned a corner, he saw the bullies were far behind them and relaxed a bit more. He went through several random streets and took turns to get them as away as possible from the group. The farther they could get from those three, the better. In fact, he had gotten so far away that he didn't even recognize any of the streets anymore and the snowy surroundings weren't helping.

Since he was so concentrated on driving, he hadn't even turned to look at Stuart the entire time.

He heard sniffling and turned to look at Stuart, who was looking down and fidgeting his fingers.

"What are you..."

Stuart turned to look at him, water flooding his eyes as little gasps escaped his mouth. "I really don't want you to tell hiiiiim," Stuart sobbed.

Murdoc didn't really know how to react in this sort of situation and pulled over at the empty street.

Stuart continued to cry into his hands and shook his shoulders as he did. Murdoc groaned and turned off the car. He looked at Stuart and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. The poor boy was just scared.

"Hey, Stuart, listen to me," Murdoc said. Stuart continued to cry into his hands, not looking up or even turning his attention to the other.

"Look, if it means that much to you, I won't tell anyone."

Stuart looked up at Murdoc and sniffed as tears and some mucus ran down his face.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't really know what it was that happened but I won't tell if you don't want me to."

Stuart wiped away a few tears and smiled at him. "Thank you..."

Murdoc felt his face turn slightly red and broke eye contact with Stuart. "It's nothing..."

"If you really want to know, I wasn't told she was gonna try and kiss me like that..."

Murdoc nodded and looked out the window, hoping to somehow escape this awkward situation.

"She gave me a little box with chocolates and a note that invited me to meet up with her. I thought we were just friends, but now that she came on to me, I don't know if we can even be that anymore..."

Murdoc felt a guilty wave of joy rush through him as he heard that. At least he wouldn't have to worry about Paula trying to steal Stuart from him.

"Anyway, where were you going to take me?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc turned to look at him. "I was just going to...drive you home, if you wanted."

Stuart looked around and frowned. "This street doesn't look like where I go through at all..."

"Well, maybe we should just take the long way," Murdoc said, "You know, to start some conversation."

Stuart smiled and nodded as he rested his head on the window.

Murdoc turned the car back on and began driving again. He knew it was a bad idea to take the long way with Stuart in the car because it meant there'd be a lot of awkward small talk. However, not even he recognized the street they were in. He couldn't tell this to Stuart, of course, he didn't want the other to panic.

Instead, Murdoc continued driving, basically blind because of all the snow and unfamiliar streets. As much as he tried, he didn't recognize a single bit of where they were. Murdoc knew their situation couldn't get any worse than this and kept driving, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

As soon as he had thought things couldn't get worse, the car slowly stopped moving and stayed still in the middle of a snowy, empty and unfamiliar street. Stuart looked down at the fuel gauge and then up at Murdoc with a look of worry.

They were all out of gas.

 

°°°•••°°°•••


	11. Chapter 11

They were stuck. Left completely stranded and unable to recognize any of their surroundings. Murdoc turned to see the nearly empty snow field they were in. Hell, there weren't even houses in the road they were in. Murdoc turned to look at Stuart who had his hands at his head.

"Oh, no...wh-what are we gonna do?!", he cried.

They were standing outside of the car now, hoping to see anyone coming from the other end of the road. Stuart looked around and he started trembling in fear, although it may have also been because of the cold wind.

"Maybe we can try calling someone?", Murdoc suggested.

"Phones aren't working because of the snow storm," Stuart responded.

Murdoc knew they were quickly running out of options. The weather was only going to get worse from then and there wasn't much they could do other than to walk back to anywhere familiar. Murdoc opened the car door and took out his backpack.

He looked through it and took out Stuart’s scarf. When the younger boy saw it, he smiled and began reaching for it, but Murdoc tied it around himself and glared at Stuart as he put it on.

Stuart didn't say anything and instead just stood in the snow. Murdoc put on his backpack and began walking away.

"Hey, where are you going?!", Stuart shouted.

"I'm gonna try and walk back. I'd rather try to get back home than just stay frozen in the middle of an unrecognizable road," Murdoc responded.

At first, Stuart didn't move from where he stood since he expected Murdoc to stop walking and to wait for him to catch up. When Murdoc didn't stop walking, Stuart began stomping towards him and finally caught up. Murdoc turned to look at him and then back to the road.

"Thought you didn't want to walk...", Murdoc grumbled.

"I never said I didn't want to," Stuart said. They kept walking, leaving behind each of their footsteps in the snow. There wasn't any conversation, all that could be heard was the whistling of the cold wind.

"So, why-why did you want to take the long way?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc shrugged and kept walking. He still felt a flaming anger deep inside him, but he wasn't sure where it was coming from. Yeah, he had seen Paula nearly kissing Stuart, but Stuart didn't mean it. At least that's what he had told him.

It was the fact that he could be lying to him that fueled Murdoc's anger. Even if Stuart didn't lie too often, it had been an entire month and a lot could happen in a month. For all he knew, Stuart could have completely changed into a stranger for him.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Murdoc looked up at Stuart and nodded. "What is it?"

Stuart cleared his throat and faced Murdoc.

"Have you seen the snow a lot?"

Murdoc looked at him with confusion. "What do you mean?"

Stuart's cheeks turned bright red as he scratched the back of his head.

"Um...what I mean is...", he mumbled, "Do you see the snow a lot throughout the year?"

"Well, every year that it snows I see it, if that's what you mean."

"Oh."

Stuart looked back up at Murdoc. "D-Do you go outside and play with it too?"

Murdoc really didn't know how to answer that. He also didn't remember just how cute Stuart could be. He held back from just hugging him tightly right then and there and cleared his throat.

"Not really," he said.

"Oh, um...me neither," Stuart said.

It was obvious that Stuart had been longing for fun during the winter. Murdoc didn't really understand why he should want to do something as simple as playing outdoors during winter. It wasn't as if he had to stay indoors all the time during snowy weather, right?

"I don't get to go out in the snow a lot, so this is all very new to me...", Stuart said, almost as if he had read his mind.

"What?! You've never seen snow before?", Murdoc shouted.

Stuart flinched at his sudden volume but still answered. "I've seen it, I've never been in it, though. Not for this long."

"Why not?"

"Ah, well, that's because I'm really prone to sickness during this time of the year, so my mom doesn't let me go out too much."

Murdoc was surprised to hear that. Was he really that likely to get sick? It was cold for the majority of the year, so that meant that Stuart must have been extremely sensitive to the weather.

Murdoc stopped walking and Stuart turned to look at him. He began to unwrap the scarf from his neck. Stuart only watched him as he removed the long piece of cloth.

"If you're that prone to sickness, you should probably get this back," Murdoc said as he handed the scarf to him.

Stuart looked at the scarf and then back at Murdoc. "It's okay, I'm sure you need it more than I do, I already have a lot of clothes on anyway," he smiled.

Murdoc glared at him and Stuart's smile faded. He walked up to Stuart and started wrapping the scarf around the other's neck. Stuart didn't move or protest against him, he just stood there, letting it all happen.

Murdoc had to reach higher to get the back of Stuart's head covered, which ended with him in an awkward hugging pose. He tied one loose knot on the scarf and he was done.

When Murdoc stepped away, he saw Stuart's face was practically glowing red. He pretended he didn't see it and continued to walk. Stuart was quick to follow.

There was an awkward silence for the first few minutes after that. Luckily, they had made it back to a neighborhood soon, which was the only way they managed to end the uncomfortable situation. When they made it there, the weather was already getting worse and a severe storm was most likely coming.

The neighborhood didn't really look familiar, but Murdoc figured he'd make the most of their situation and began searching for a house that didn't look as shady as the rest of them. They seemed to be in a nice neighborhood, but he couldn't get ahead of himself and imagine that everyone would open up their doors for them.

Murdoc finally stopped at one of the houses and started walking up to the front door. It was a two story house with a large front lawn. The building was multiple shades of brown, but the majority of it was covered in snow. He was just about to knock at the door when Stuart called after him.

"What are you doing?!", he asked.

Murdoc looked at him, not surprised at how nervous Stuart had become at the thought of knocking at a stranger's door. "If we stay out here with nowhere to stay safe, we're going to freeze and I'd rather ask for help than do that."

Stuart sighed and dragged himself to the front door. "I don't get why we can't keep walking and find a house we know or something..."

"Well, you said you liked asking for candy during Halloween, didn't you? It'll be just like that."

Stuart was surprised to see that Murdoc had remembered that part of their conversation. He had really paid attention to their conversations...

Murdoc knocked at the door and waited for a response. There was a long pause as they waited until there was a click behind the door and it opened up. An elderly woman opened the door and looked at Murdoc with surprise.

"Hi, um...we got lost on our way here and the storm caught us unaware," Murdoc said as he pulled Stuart closer, "Do you mind helping us out? We'd just be staying here until the storm is over."

The lady nodded and widened the door for them to come in. Murdoc stepped in and felt the warmth of the house embrace him after the bitter cold. The living room was well-lit and smelled a lot like cinnamon. The lady cleared her throat and got the attention of both of them.

"I have a spare room upstairs, you can stay there for now," she said.

Murdoc thanked her and made his way upstairs to the room. Stuart followed him silently as he observed the house.

Murdoc opened up a door and looked inside.

"That's the room, feel free to get comfortable," the woman called from downstairs.

Murdoc stepped in and saw it was all very neat. The crimson red walls were decorated with framed paintings and the lights were rather dim. There was a window with no curtains and just wooden blinds. At the corner of the room was a small closet with a white door.

It all looked great, but Murdoc saw there was only one bed. Of course, he didn't expect for them to have to sleep in the house, but it was a possibility. Stuart walked in and sat at the end of the bed. He began removing his shoes, followed by his hat, scarf and then his multiple coats.

Stuart was left with a dark brown turtleneck shirt that seemed to make his arms look longer. He looked up at Murdoc and smiled. Murdoc looked away and left the room.

He went downstairs and found the old woman in the kitchen. He walked up to her and cleared his throat.

"Um, where's the bathroom?"

She paused for a second and then proceeded to guide him to the room. When they got there, she opened the door for him and shut it once he was in.

The bathroom looked surprisingly clean and shiny. It was all mostly white, the floor, the walls, the shower curtains, the sink and even the soaps. Something about it seemed uncanny and rather eerie. He tried to pay no mind to it and instead got to his business so he could get out sooner.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart was currently hugging his legs in the corner of the bed, worrying over what could be happening in his house. His mother must've been losing her mind over the fact that he wasn't home yet. She had probably already called the cops to look for him, something a worrisome mother like his would do. The fact that he couldn't even contact her only made matters worse.

Although, he had to admit, he was growing to be quite fond of the house. It had a relaxing atmosphere and it would make him feel at ease if he hadn't come in without telling his parents about it. Everything was just so still and silent in a way that made him feel somewhat calm. It was nice. He hoped he'd get a house like this some day once he was older.

His train of thoughts was interrupted when he heard Murdoc open the door to the room. He looked a bit startled about something.

"Hey, this house is pretty scary, isn't it?", Murdoc said as he closed the door to the bedroom.

"Meh, I kinda like it...", Stuart said.

"Well, you do like horror movies...", he muttered.

Stuart was surprised for the second time that day that Murdoc had paid attention to their conversations. This time, he figured he wouldn't stay quiet about it and mentioned it to the other.

"Did you really pay attention to...to everything we talked about all that time?"

Murdoc looked at him and smirked. "Well, it was all that was on my mind the entirety of last month."

Stuart stayed seated at the corner of the bed and looked up. "Have you heard anything about when the storm will be over?"

Murdoc shook his head and sat at the edge of the bed. "I doubt we'll be able to leave by today, though. Even if the storm does end today, it'll be really late and I don't think we should walk around the streets when it's so dark."

Stuart sighed and lowered his head again as the wind blew with strength outside the window. There was a large tree right next to the window that caused lots of banging from the branches hitting the glass. Stuart realized that the sounds would most likely not let him sleep at night and stressed even more about it since he already had trouble falling asleep.

The sky was already dark since the hours of light were shortened at that time of the year. There weren't any clocks in the room, but Stuart knew it was getting late. He got out of the bed and made his way to the door.

"Um, Murdoc, do you know where the bathroom is?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc sat up and led Stuart downstairs to the bathroom. When he got there, Stuart went in and closed the door. He was just about to use the bathroom when he saw a cupboard over the sink. He had always been curious, too curious for his own good at times, but he managed to resist the urge to look through the shelf.

When he finished, Stuart washed his hands and couldn't help but to stare at the cupboard. It wouldn't hurt to just look. He opened up the small door and saw several medicine bottles with a familiar orange color.

The idea came to him as he was looking at the bottles. The only way he'd be able to fall asleep that night was by taking the pills that treated his insomnia. Stuart began digging through the bottles to try and recognize the name of his pills. Maybe the old woman had the same pills prescribed to her. Old people had trouble sleeping, right?

Stuart couldn't quite remember the name of the pills to treat his sleeplessness, so he tried his best and pulled out the bottle that sounded the most like his pills.

He gulped down the pills with water from the sink and sighed. He already felt sleepier and headed to the kitchen for a cup of water.

When he was making his way upstairs, he was surprised to hear no movement in the kitchen or the living room. Stuart went back and he peaked over in the living room. He saw the old woman had fallen asleep on the couch. Stuart decided it was best to not wake her up and began making his way upstairs.

Just as he was going up, the lights all left with a _whoosh_.

Stuart let out a small gasp as the light was gone. There was only pitch black everywhere. It was like if there was a thick blanket right in front of him. With nothing else to do, Stuart called out for Murdoc.

He heard footsteps going down the stairs slowly. "Stuart, where are you?"

Stuart was relieved to hear Murdoc's voice just a few meters away from him. "I'm right here!"

There was a short pause until he felt Murdoc grab his arm. The other tried reaching out for the rest of his arm and eventually was just holding on to him.

"Okay, I got you, all you have to do is just step up slowly, okay?", Murdoc said.

Stuart nodded and tried taking a step up the stairs. His first step was a bit too low, and he ended up almost tripping. Luckily, Murdoc was grabbing on to him and prevented him from falling. When Stuart tried again, he managed to go up and slowly made his way up the stairs.

Each step became easier as he adjusted to the surroundings by just feeling his way up. When they reached to the top of the stairs, Murdoc walked him back to the bedroom. The room had the light of the moon due to the sky clearing away of clouds.

Stuart sat at the end of the bed along with Murdoc. They both stayed seated, waiting for something to happen.

"So we're really spending the night in here?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc didn't answer for a while and spoke up after the pause. "I can sleep somewhere else if you want me to."

"No, no, no, it's okay. I mean, it's alright if you wanna sleep here," Stuart responded.

Another awkward silence followed after that. Murdoc was the one to break it by getting up and taking some of the many blankets from the bed. Stuart watched as he picked them up and walked over to an empty spot on the floor. He laid out the covers and got comfortable under them.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc kept his back turned when he answered. "I don't wanna share the bed, you can keep it to yourself."

Stuart looked back at the bed and hesitated to get under the covers. He didn't want to share the bed either because it'd be a little too intimate, but he also didn't want Murdoc to have to sleep on the floor. He began getting comfortable and laid down facing towards the window since that was the only side he felt comfortable sleeping in. As much as he closed his eyes and tried sleeping, he just didn't sleep. He couldn't seem to fall asleep and his thoughts kept racing through his mind. Stuart didn't feel tired and he had no idea why. He had taken the pills already, but there was always the chance that the medicine wasn't even the right one.

The temperature in the room was definitely of no help since it had become so cold. If the electricity was gone, that meant all the heating systems were out too. Since Murdoc had taken one or two of the blankets, it also made Stuart feel a bit colder. The loud banging of the tree hadn't stopped and the storm was still running wild, yet another reason why he wouldn't be able to get any sleep that night.

Stuart covered himself up all the way to his head and shut his eyes tightly to focus on getting sleep. It was strange that he felt more awake than when he had gotten in the house at first. The energy that was piling up inside him had him awake for what seemed like forever.

After a long time of changing positions and shaking with cold, Stuart was tired of not being able to become tired, if it made any sense.

He peaked over at the spot that Murdoc was sleeping in. It looked like he was already asleep. Stuart decided he would just go downstairs for a while so he could let out all his energy. He got out of bed and made his way to the door silently until the floorboard creaked loudly.

"You can't sleep either, huh?"

Stuart jumped at the sudden sound of Murdoc's voice. He looked down at him and nodded.

"I usually have this type of problem, so I'm not too concerned," Murdoc said.

Stuart sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Murdoc from there. He had wanted to continue talking with him but he knew they wouldn't get any sleep if he tried starting a conversation.

Instead, Stuart sat at the edge of the bed and brought his pillow to lay closer to Murdoc. Murdoc sat up and looked at Stuart with a tired expression.

"Why can't you sleep?", he asked.

Stuart hugged his pillow closer as he answered. "I have a little bit of insomnia, but it's nothing serious..."

Murdoc nodded and looked down at the blankets. Stuart didn't move or say anything after that. He wasn't the best at starting conversations. Or continuing them. He just wasn't good with conversations in general.

"I better try falling asleep...", Stuart mumbled as he covered himself under the blankets. He got comfortable over the thin blankets and curled up to try and stay warm. He heard Murdoc go back under his own covers and silence followed.

No matter how much he tried, Stuart couldn't manage to sleep well. The temperature was starting to be the biggest of his worries and he tried covering himself more to keep himself from freezing.

Unable to stand the unbelievable cold, Stuart decided to speak up about it. It wouldn't be the end of the world if he asked for one more blanket to keep him warm, would it?

He sat up and cleared his throat. Murdoc turned to look at him.

"I don't wanna bother you or anything but...it's really cold on the bed, so if you could just..."

Murdoc stayed still for a few seconds as he tried catching on with what Stuart was trying to say. After a few seconds, he got up and picked up one of the blankets.

"Yeah, just one will do...", Stuart said.

Murdoc took the blanket and walked up to him. He put the blanket over the bed and made sure the corners were placed correctly.

When he finished, Stuart began fixing himself under the blankets again and faced to the center of the bed. When he was finally comfortable, he saw Murdoc was slipping into the bed as well.

"Um..."

"I don't snore, so we should be good," Murdoc said.

Stuart looked at him rather shocked and Murdoc noticed it.

"This is what you wanted, right? There's more warmth if two people huddle close."

"Um, yeah..."

Stuart watched as he tucked himself under the blankets. Murdoc was facing away from him, but it didn't make it any less awkward. He wanted to face away too, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep right if he turned the other way. After considering all his options, Stuart decided he'd sacrifice his comfort to avoid getting too close.

Just as he was about to turn around, he saw Murdoc was turning around in his direction. Stuart stayed still as Murdoc fixed his pillow and looked at him.

"Are you still cold?"

Stuart was still in shock and didn't move or blink or do anything. He felt his face turn slightly red as he pretended he wasn't about to just turn around.

"J-Just a little," Stuart mumbled.

Murdoc leaned in closer to him and looked up at him again. 

"You forgot to take off your contacts."

"Oh! Thanks...", Stuart said. He sat up and began fishing out for his contacts. When he took them off, he rubbed his eyes and set the contacts on the bedside table. He got back under the covers and made accidental eye contact with Murdoc, though it couldn't have been too obvious now that his eyes were completely dark.

Stuart was quick to look away and Murdoc smiled at how embarrassed he was.

"We're friends, it's not like I'm a stranger," he laughed.

Stuart felt his face burning with shame as he said that. He tried covering his face with the blankets so that he wouldn't see how red he had become.

When Stuart looked back up, he saw there was a short distance between each of their faces. The tension between them was extremely high. Stuart moved back a bit to make things less awkward.

"Um...Murdoc?", Stuart whispered.

The older boy hadn't stopped staring at him, he was just looking at Stuart as if he were some sort of rarity that he had just discovered.

"You really don't remember anything from before?"

Stuart stayed silent when he asked him that. He began to think that maybe something very important had happened before he had gotten knocked out. All that they had told him was that they had found him approaching the park, there wasn't any trace of him actually getting there.

"You know I don't remember anything about that..."

"I know, but...", Murdoc started.

Stuart kept his eyes on the other boy, waiting for him to finish his sentence. What if he really had done something that he didn't recall? Had he done something wrong?

"It might sound weird, but I know what happened before you got sent to the hospital."

"Oh! How?", Stuart asked.

"You did meet up with me that day, in fact we even..."

Murdoc was about to mention the fact that they had kissed when they met up, but he knew that would come as a shock to Stuart. He didn't want the other to pass out from embarrassment.

"Right, I probably should explain what happened from the beginning..."

And so he did. Murdoc explained everything that had happened. He covered the entire day that they had decided to meet up from the moment he arrived to the moment they parted ways. However, Murdoc might have skipped one or two details that made him seem like if he was trying to get ahead of himself with Stuart.

After his long explanation, Stuart seemed to understand so much more. He didn't seem confused about anything and only asked a few questions.

"So we really did meet up? A-And...and I confessed myself to you...?"

Murdoc nodded with his expression slowly showing he was upset.

"But if you feel any different about me now, I'll understand..."

"No, I don't. I don't think so, at least. I mean, I had been telling myself that I couldn't like you because of our...argument.", Stuart explained, "But deep down, I knew I couldn't drown out my feelings for so long."

It was the truth. The entire month, he had been telling himself he couldn't see Murdoc the way he saw him. He was sure Murdoc didn't like him, that he didn't like guys in general. Stuart had even found himself thinking that maybe Murdoc didn't like anyone or anything at all.

But in a way, he had only fallen in love with him more when he talked with 007. His words alone were enough to connect him more with him, quite literally.

"So...we were already dating?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc nodded slowly, feeling a harsh end of a relationship coming.

"Dating is a little easier than what I expected it'd be...", Stuart said as he smiled.

"Well, there's more to it than talking and walking in a park, but you have the basic idea of what it's like," Murdoc laughed. It didn't seem as if Stuart wanted to end it, so he eased up a bit.

Stuart looked away in embarrassment as he said that. He didn't like looking or sounding so oblivious to everything.

"Then can't you teach me? How relationships work?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc stopped laughing as soon as he said that. It was hard to tell because of the dark, but Stuart had seen a hint of surprise and red in his face.

"You mean right now?", he asked. Stuart nodded and waited for Murdoc to make up his mind.

"I don't see why not...", he muttered as he sat up. Stuart did the same and looked at him in the eyes once he was sitting up straight.

"Usually when you date someone, it's not just small talk and holding hands. You have to kind of get personal, you know?"

Stuart nodded and kept his attention in everything he was saying.

"It's good to feel comfortable with your partner before you get too intimate, that way you don't feel like you're being forced to do something you don't want to do."

"So, what type of things do couples do, then?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc stayed thinking about his question. He had never really been in a formal relationship before, so he didn't really know how to answer his question.

Really, everything he knew about relationships was what he had seen on TV and what couples did when he was somewhere in public.

Of course, Murdoc didn't want to seem inexperienced in front of Stuart, so he figured he'd just tell him everything he had seen before.

"Well, they share meals, they buy gifts for special occasions, sometimes they go out and just share each other's company. At least that's what I've done in my...past relationships," Murdoc finished.

Stuart was rarely one to get jealous over things, but something about Murdoc mentioning relationships he had previously been in was really grinding his gears. The idea of someone else dating someone who was as important to him as Murdoc was really made him angry.

Even though he had previously told himself he wasn't ready for that type of relationship, they had technically already started said relationship. It wouldn't be right to end it now, so he figured it'd be best to just continue it.

Besides, with the motivation he had received from finding out that Murdoc had been in previous relationships, Stuart told himself he'd become the absolute best boyfriend for him.

"They also have to...you know," Murdoc added.

"They have to what?", Stuart asked.

"Remember how I said they have to be comfortable before they get intimate? It's what they do once they reach that point of comfort."

Stuart was still confused and clueless as to what he was saying. "Which is?"

Murdoc sighed. "Hugging. Hugging and kissing and other ways of showing affection, you get it?"

Stuart felt his face turn red as he explained it. He had never kissed anyone before, so he couldn't do much in that area. It was then that a thought hit him.

Murdoc had probably kissed a lot of people in his past experience.

With this in mind, Stuart decided that he would muster up all his courage and work up to become the best kisser for Murdoc too.

"Should we try to see how it is?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc seemed a bit taken aback by his suggestion. "Wait, try what?"

"Hugging. Hugging and kissing and all that."

"Are you sure you're ready for that?"

Stuart nodded quickly and scooted closer to him.

"Are you really sure? It's a really big step up from...holding hands."

Murdoc had a point. Stuart really didn't know anything about kissing and he wouldn't know what to do if he was faced with that situation.

"You're right, we should probably wait before such a great commitment," Stuart mumbled.

Murdoc held back a grin from his comment. The fact that Stuart made such a big deal over something as simple as a kiss was too cute.

"It's okay to not do it, we can limit ourselves to holding hands or stuff like that."

Stuart nodded but didn't look directly at him. "You said something about more types of showing affection. What other types are there?", he asked.

"Um...there's a lot. I can't really show you all of them right now, but there's some that I can."

Stuart agreed and waited for Murdoc to proceed with his demonstration.

He leaned towards Stuart, leaving very little space in between them. He told himself it'd be a hug, but he was really looking for a chance to get closer to the younger boy.

Stuwrt was first nervous at the lack of personal space, but didn't say anything. He didn't want to ruin what he had going for him.

Murdoc had leaned in so much that he was already almost sitting on top of him. Stuart felt overwhelmed now, there was a rather uncomfortable heat in between them and he wanted to get away from it. He would've tried scooting back, but if he did, he'd fall off the bed and end up looking like a fool.

Just as Murdoc continued to get closer to him, Stuart felt a sudden urge to sneeze.

"Ah, M-Murdoc, wait!"

Stuart let out a loud sneeze and everything happened at the same time.

He had sneezed, fallen off the bed and Murdoc had toppled over him.

Stuart looked down at Murdoc, who was sitting on top of him. They looked at each other in silence and in shock from everything that had just happened. After they had processed everything, they couldn't help but to laugh at it all.

"How did that even happen?", Stuart asked in between his laughter.

They eventually relaxed and stopped laughing. Murdoc was still on top of Stuart.

"Um, my legs are kind of going numb, do you mind getting off?", Stuart asked.

"Oh, right!", Murdoc said as he began to get off of Stuart. He sat up on the bed and helped Stuart get back up from the ground.

They both got under the covers again and faced each other. Stuart couldn't help but to smile from just looking at the other, Murdoc did the same.

Stuart suddenly stopped smile as he realized just how close they had gotten. He began to worry and his face must've shown it.

"What's wrong?", Murdoc asked.

"Y-You don't suppose I could get pregnant from that hug, do you?"

Murdoc looked at him with confusion at first, but then grinned and let out a laugh. He kept laughing as Stuart just watched him. Stuart didn't really get what was funny, but he cracked a smile after Murdoc didn't seem like he was going to answer his completely serious question.

"I think it's time you go to sleep now," Murdoc said as he pulled the blankets closer to him.

"Oh, okay...", Stuart muttered. He fixed himself under the blankets and hugged his pillow. Stuart peaked over at Murdoc and prepared for what he had been waiting to say for so long.

"G-Good...goodnight," he mumbled. Stuart felt his face burning when he finished saying it. It was such a simple phrase yet it meant so much to him.

"Night, love," Murdoc said.

Stuart could've fainted right then and there from embarrassment and joy. He had called him that again, a name that isn't usually thrown around in a casual conversation. Not in a conversation with "friends" at least.

If they were really dating now, Stuart felt eager to start over. It was still technically his first relationship. He curled up under the blankets and closed his eyes, feeling joyful yet tired of the long day and longer night.


	12. Chapter 12

Stuart had fallen asleep almost immediately. Murdoc, for some reason, just couldn't manage to get the sleep he needed. He had felt tired before Stuart had offered to talk, but now he had lots of energy that he couldn't seem to get out through anything. If he got up, Stuart would hear him and he didn't want to wake up the younger boy.

There was, however, something that was slightly putting him in a sleepy mood. Murdoc had been staring at Stuart since he had fallen asleep. Something about the way his chest would rise up and down so slowly was oddly relaxing. His hair had gotten a bit messier since he had first dozed off, somehow making Stuart look even cuter.

Stuart's breathing had become louder since he had opened his mouth. It was only now that he realized that Stuart's lips were slightly parted, in the perfect conditions for a kiss.

Murdoc knew it wouldn't be right to kiss Stuart while he was out like a light, but the temptation to do it wasn't becoming any easier to hold back from. Stuart had clearly told him that he wasn't ready to go that far with anyone, including Murdoc. If he wanted their relationship to work, he'd have to respect the boundaries Stuart had put up.

But the more Murdoc thought about it, the less of a problem it seemed to be. It wasn't like Stuart would remember any of what had happened. If he was as deeply asleep as Murdoc thought he was, then he wouldn't have to worry about making Stuart feel uncomfortable.

Murdoc sighed. He had really, really attempted to hold back with all his might. Knowing that he had at least tried, Murdoc leaned closer to Stuart’s face and planted a small kiss on his lips.

It was short and sweet, nothing too serious. But somehow that alone had managed to make him feel satisfied. It might have been the fact that he had been deprived of any and all contact with Stuart for a little over a month, but even the slightest touch had been enough for him.

After he had kissed him, he tucked himself under his bed and turned away from him. If he looked at him any longer, Murdoc would most likely not be able to hold back from giving him more kisses and whatever came after that.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, the snow storm was long gone and all that remained was the cold temperature and the occasional breeze that came with it.

Stuart woke up to an empty bed. The spot next to him was empty, there was only the untidy covers left behind. Had it all been a dream?

He stood up and observed the room. All the same paintings still hung on the walls and all the furniture remained untouched. The window blinds were opened, showing what the backyard of the house looked like. There was snow everywhere, creating small hills on the ground. The large tree now stood still with small patches of white on the branches. The sky was completely cloudy, a pale gray kind of cloudy.

Stuart stretched and yawned. He rubbed his eyes slowly and sat in bed. He was slightly dozing off until he heard someone knock at the bedroom door.

He turned around and saw Murdoc was standing at the door, dressed in yesterday's clothes. Stuart felt relief flowing through him as he saw that it hadn't all really a dream. He had really shared all that night with him.

"We're leaving now," Murdoc said.

Stuart frowned and sighed. "I'm still a bit tired..."

Murdoc walked into the room and sat next to him. Stuart turned to look at him and smiled.

"Will you get out if I offer you something?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart pretended to think about it as he looked up and tapped his finger on his chin. "Like what would you offer?"

"You'll find out if you get out of bed," Murdoc said as he stood up from the bed. He walked out of the room and began going down the hall.

Stuart hesitated to get out of bed at first. He was just so tired and he didn't want to leave the warmth the blankets offered.

Eventually, he got out and got dressed. As he was putting on his shoes, Murdoc came back into the room.

"Wow, you actually got out of bed."

Stuart glared at him and continued to tie his shoes. "Why do you make me get up so early...?"

"It's not early. It's actually pretty late. I mean, I already went to get gas for the car and brought it back to the front of the house."

Stuart looked up at him with shock. "Really?!"

"Yup," Murdoc said.

He finished tying his shoes and got up. "So, what time is it?"

"One in the afternoon."

"What?! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!", Stuart shouted.

"You just looked so peaceful while you slept," Murdoc said.

Stuart furrowed his eyebrows but felt his face go red again. Praise always managed to get him.

They left the house, thanked the old woman and got into the car. The drive back seemed to go slower with all the conversation they had. They talked about the weather and went back into subjects they had gone into while they were chatting online. It was a lot easier to find the way back without the snow covering everything.

When they reached Stuart's street, Murdoc pulled over two houses away from his actual house so that they could get time to say goodbye without being seen.

"So, are we gonna meet up again tomorrow?", Stuart asked.

"Sure thing," Murdoc said, "but I think it should be somewhere more private. Somewhere no one we know might catch us."

"Hm...maybe the library downtown?", Stuart suggested.

Murdoc thought about it at first and then nodded. "As long as we're well-hidden."

Stuart laughed at his comment and prepared to get out of the car. Before he got off, he thought about asking for a goodbye hug from Murdoc. It'd be a couple-like thing and something to keep him warm for a while.

Stuart figured it'd be a little too forward and sensual, so he decided he'd just leave things as they were.

He closed the door behind him and waved at Murdoc as he drove off.

Stuart walked back home and kept remembering all of last night's events. He had began his relationship with Murdoc again and things were finally looking bright for him. He got to his house and walked through his front yard. As he was reaching the front door, he saw his mother come out, almost sobbing for him.

She hugged him tightly, asking him where he'd been all of yesterday and today. Stuart couldn't really answer since she was squeezing his lungs out of his chest.

She walked him back into the house and sat him down in front of her.

"We were so worried, where were you? What happened? Oh, and then the storm happened, are you okay?!"

Stuart looked at her, slightly amused with her reaction. "I'm okay. Actually, I'm feeling quite great!"

"What happened? Where'd you go? We thought we had lost you or something like that!", she shouted.

"Well, a...a friend came to pick me up from school. He ran out of gas and he...um..."

Stuart couldn't tell his mother that he had stayed the night in a stranger's house or she would probably faint from panic and anger.

"He had some money on him and we...we stayed at a hotel. We stayed until the storm passed."

She looked at him as if she was trying to see if he was lying. "How long have you known him?"

Stuart sighed. "We've been friends for like...I don't know, it's a lot."

She squinted at him and clearly didn't believe him.

"He's a good guy! Actually, he's Murdoc, remember? The boy I told you about?"

His mother focused on remembering who Stuart was talking about.

"Oh! That boy you talked to me about the other day?", she asked.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"You should've said so sooner! Speaking of him, when will I get to meet this buddy of yours?", she asked.

"Right...I don't know if he wants to come over in the first place. His dad might not let him..."

"Aw, well, you should ask him, just to make sure."

Stuart simply nodded. "Can I get some rest? I'm a little tired..."

Although she still wanted to ask him more questions, she allowed him to go rest and got back to getting ready to go to work.

As soon as Stuart got in his room, he laid in bed and let his thoughts wander. He was actually still tired since he had woken up so abruptly. Stuart slipped into bed and felt as if his eyelids were made of lead.

He fell asleep almost as soon as he got comfortable and stayed asleep for several hours, with no interruptions or alarm clocks.

°°°•••°°°•••

When Murdoc had dropped off Stuart, he didn't go back to his own house. He just kept driving around the streets, looking for somewhere to stay until he had to go home. All this time, he had been thinking about everything that had happened. They had made up again and they were even going beyond that. They had already shared a bed - although not the way one would imagine - and had even talked about what had happened to Stuart. Murdoc was going to make sure that Stuart didn't forget a single one of those new memories.

Stuart was obviously not the most talented in knowing couple activities, he knew that much. However, his inexperience seemed so endearing to Murdoc. He wasn't one to care so much about the "special first time", also known as losing your virginity.

Everyone seemed to be so worked up about who you would share that experience with. Murdoc just didn't understand why something like that had to be so special, in the end, it was just sex.

That was until now.

He found himself wondering if anyone had been with Stuart before. His most obvious guess was no, but sometimes he thought that Stuart might even end up being experienced in it. Everyone knows the basics, but Stuart was always one to want to learn more. Maybe he had studied that type of thing. Maybe someone had taught him personally.

For - not - the first time, he felt rather frustrated with the idea of someone else "teaching" Stuart all that. If it was going to be anyone, it was going to be him.

When he finally came back to his senses, Murdoc realized that there was no way Stuart had ever been with anyone if he didn't even know how the basics of dating. He relaxed at the thought of him making Stuart feel all those new sensations and being the first to do it. Maybe the first time really was as important as everyone said it was.

It was already dark outside when Murdoc stopped at a street full of small stores. Each store was a little box-shaped building and they all shared walls with those next to them. There was one shop that got his attention. It was a "love shop", according to the signs all over the windows. Curiosity got the best of him and he parked in front of the store to take a look inside.

He got out of the car and walked to the door of the shop. When he looked in, he saw there were many plush dolls and colorful balloons, but a lack of any actual customers. There was only a woman standing at the cash register who was sitting back on a folding chair, reading a magazine with a far-fetched story as the front cover. He continued to walk in and saw the entire store was full of things like love cards, gift bags and candy. He walked up to the woman at the register to ask about the store.

"Excuse me, where are the...um...", Murdoc muttered. She looked up at him with a bored and tired expression, clearly uninterested.

Murdoc looked around to make sure there really was no one else hearing and leaned in closer to tell her. "An adult section?"

She continued to just stare and him and put the magazine down. "This is a love shop."

"Yeah, that's why I was asking," Murdoc said.

"Listen, if you want a sex shop, then just go out and look for one because this isn't that type of store," she said.

Murdoc was rather offended with her sudden response but didn't say anything back. He went to the back of the shop and pretended he hadn't just had that conversation.

He saw there were plenty of pink-and-red-colored items all around him and the vague smell of candy and cardboard. The entire store just had one big lovey-dovey sort of feel to it.

Stuart liked this sort of thing, right? He could just get him something now that he was at it. Murdoc told himself he was doing this out of simple appreciation, but there might have been some guilt in there. Guilt from stealing that kiss from him.

He walked slowly through several aisles and looked for something that he thought Stuart might enjoy. There were all sorts of cheesy one-liners on basically every love card and the ones that didn't were just blank with the exception of a picture on the front page. In the other aisles, there was just candy at insanely expensive prices that he could get at any other convinience store for half the price.

He continued to walk around the store and started to think like Stuart might think. What kind of odd things might he find nice?

Despite trying to think like the younger boy, he hadn't managed to find anything that might even interest him. Stuart wasn't one to like such generic gifts.

He had reached the final aisle and had found nothing the entire time. Murdoc thought he would've at least found one thing among all those aisles and stands, but there was nothing. He figured he'd just leave and buy Stuart a candy from another store since he hadn't found anything.

Just as he was about to head out, he saw a cardboard box on the floor near the cash register from the corner of his eye. He turned back and looked down at the box.

"What's this?", he asked the woman.

"Unpopular items. They're all on sale."

Murdoc looked down at the box full of plush dolls, some were ripped from several sides and had been patched up rather poorly. There was one doll that caught his attention. Its entire body was blue gray, or at least it was at some point. He could tell it had been through a lot because of the different colored fabrics that were patching all of its body. It still had several tears where the cotton was peaking out under the seams.

It was a...well, he wasn't really sure what it was. 

He picked it up and saw it had a tail, long ears and small wings at the back of its small body. There was a bit of green drool coming out of its mouth and small horns at the top of its head.

All in all, it seemed like a mixture between a dog, a rabbit and a bat. He wasn't sure where the horns or the drool came from, but he assumed it was part of a zombie-edition of sorts. A zombie-edition. Stuart liked zombies.

He brought it to the cashier and placed it on the counter, waiting for the woman behind it to finish reading. She glanced up and him and then at the doll. As she was putting the magazine down, she seemed a bit confused and surprised with his final choice.

"That one?"

Murdoc nodded and began to take out his wallet.

"Are you sure? You can get a newer one for the same price," she said.

"I think I'll just take this one," he responded.

She still didn't seem to understand why he would want such a torn up doll, but didn't ask any more questions until he was done paying.

"Do you want a bag?", she asked.

Murdoc shook his head as he took the doll with him to the exit. He left the shop and saw there were snowflakes coming down from the sky.

There was snow all around the sidewalk, the streets and the rooftops of stores. The night sky had turned into a cloudy mess and there were very few cars out, creating a sort of eerie atmosphere. He paid no mind to it and got in his car.

°°°•••°°°•••

Murdoc drove back and made sure to park the car far away enough from his actual house. He had found a new hiding spot for it in the backyard of an abandoned house a block away from his own house. As he was about to get out, he thought about what could be happening in the house. It was usually on Saturdays that his father would stay home and drink.

Murdoc decided he wouldn't risk it and instead stayed in his car. He'd just have to sleep in there again.

He curled up just enough to stay warm and rested his head on the window. He thought about what could happen the next day, when he'd meet up with Stuart again. He smiled at the thought of them hiding around the library, hoping to avoid any attention. Murdoc didn't think anyone they knew would even go to the library. If they did, then there was a really small chance of them getting caught since the library building was so large.

He closed his eyes and relaxed. He'd need lots of energy for the next day if he wanted to have a successful date with Stuart.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart woke up with a really bad headache. He was feeling really awful, like if someone had hit him in the head with a frying pan or a shovel. He checked the time on his phone, it was already a quarter to eight.

He sat up on the edge of his bed with a glazed look on his face. He wasn't really thinking of anything at first, but then remembered today he'd meet up with Murdoc in the public library. Stuart got up and went to the restroom to wash his face and to take a leak.

He took a shower and changed into clothes as warm as yesterday's. It didn't seem to be snowing as hard as last time, but he still figured he'd bring enough clothes to avoid getting a cold. Stuart was ready to go out but he stayed back for a while. He figured he'd have to leave a note telling his mother where he was before she began panicking again.

He scribbled down a note and pinned it on his bedroom door. Once he finished, he made his way to the front door and silently opened it so he wouldn't be heard.

Stuart stepped outside into the cold outside world. The sky was that pale gray again, but with a hint of periwinkle peeking through the white clouds. There was a small breeze flowing through, causing Stuart's hair to slightly flow with it. He stepped into his front yard to reach the street but nearly slipped with the frozen concrete. Luckily, he managed to grab on to the wall of the house to keep his balance.

Stuart continued walking carefully and slowly, making sure to not fall on the slippery floor. He made it to the snow in his front yard and continued to walk to the front of the street from there. When he got to the sidewalk, Stuart continued to walk a few houses away from his own, just so his mother wouldn't see when Murdoc picked him up.

The sidewalk was just as slippery as the rest of the concrete and he didn't want to risk falling, so he grabbed on to the fence on each house as he walked over to the front of an empty house. Stuart sat on the sidewalk and waited for Murdoc to come and hopefully pick him up from there.

As he was waiting, Stuart took out his phone and scrolled through the pages of webcomics he had been reading. There wasn't a lot of updates and very few people online, so he quickly got tired of that. He looked up and tried seeing if Murdoc was anywhere near the end of the street. Nothing.

He continued to wait impatiently, hoping he'd be arriving soon so that he wouldn't have to stay out in the cold for much longer.

It was an entire half hour until Murdoc finally showed up. He pulled over right in front of Stuart and walked towards him.

"Hey, hope I didn't make you wait too long," Murdoc said.

"Um, yeah. You didn't," Stuart mumbled as he started getting up. He had forgotten that the floor was so slippery and lost his balance as he stood up. Murdoc reached for him and grabbed his arms before he could fall back.

With Stuart sliding all over the frozen concrete, he ended up having to hug Murdoc to keep himself still. Stuart let out a nervous laugh as he attempted to stand up straight on his own.

When he did, Stuart got into the car and sat at the passenger's seat. He put on his seat belt, as he always did.

"When did you start waiting?", Murdoc asked as he started the car.

"J-Just a few minutes...", Stuart lied. He turned and saw that Murdoc wasn't wearing his seat belt.

"Hey, your seat belt!", Stuart said.

Murdoc looked down and sighed. "I've got this, I don't need a seat belt."

Stuart glared at him and didn't take his stare off of him until Murdoc finally gave in. He put it on with hesitation and a groan.

"There," Murdoc grumbled, "Safety first."

Stuart smiled and fixed his attention to the outside of the car window.

"It's been snowing a lot, huh?", Stuart said.

Murdoc nodded and stayed focused on the road.

"I hope there's not another storm before we get back home," Stuart added.

He didn't pay much attention to all of Stuart's comments since he was driving. It was only now that he remembered the gift he had gotten for him.

"Oh, I got something for you," Murdoc said.

Stuart gasped in excitement and looked at him. "You did?"

"Yeah, it's in the back seat, see if you can reach it."

Stuart turned around and saw the small bag in the back seat. "Oh, I don't know if I'll be able to reach it..."

He undid his seat belt and tried reaching for it from his seat. When he still couldn't reach it, Stuart sat to face the back seat and placed his knees on the arm rest.

In the end, half of his body was in the back part and his bottom half was in the front.

"I think I got it!", Stuart called. 

What Stuart didn't realize was that the way he was seated left his bottom just in front of Murdoc. The temptation to turn and look at it was becoming too much and Murdoc didn't know how long he might last without staring.

"Hey, can you pull me back?", Stuart asked from the back seat.

"Can I what?!", Murdoc shouted.

"Grab me so I can get back in my seat," Stuart said.

Murdoc had to thank whoever was giving him so much luck that day and pulled over. He turned around and saw Stuart already had the bag in his hand.

"Just grab my waist so I can get out, I'm sort of stuck," he said.

Murdoc struggled to find the right place to grab Stuart from without touching something he wasn't supposed to. He eventually found a not-as-awkward place to grab Stuart from and pulled him in.

"Ow, ow! Carefully!", Stuart shouted.

"Oh, sorry...", Murdoc muttered. He continued to pull, slightly less hard than he had been before.

"You're still being too rough!", Stuart called.

Everything he was saying wasn't really helping Murdoc calm down any less. It could be understood in a completely different way, the way that Murdoc was imagining it.

Eventually, he managed to pull Stuart back into the passenger's seat. Stuart thanked him and looked into the bag.

"Aw, a plush doll!", Stuart squealed, "How cute!"

"You really don't care that it's some sort of deformed demon?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart shot Murdoc an angry look.

"I was joking...", Murdoc muttered.

The younger boy turned to look at the plush again and hugged it.

Of course Stuart would like it. He was into really weird things, so Murdoc should've taken a clue that Stuart would just adore the gift.

"Where'd you get it?", Stuart asked.

"Um...a store a few blocks from here," Murdoc answered.

Stuart turned his attention back to the doll and smiled. With that, Murdoc continued driving in the direction of the public library downtown. He was glad Stuart had liked his gift, even though be had seen it coming a mile away.

°°°•••°°°•••

The drive there was dragged out longer than was necessary since Murdoc had taken incorrect turns at times, whether they were on purpose or not, Stuart did not know. In the end, the trip had lasted a little under an hour. While they were getting there, it had started snowing lightly, but nothing to assume a storm would arrive from.

On their way there, the two talked about what had happened once each of them had gotten home, but Murdoc had to make something up to make sure Stuart wouldn't worry. Murdoc knew it wasn't right to lie to someone who had such a special place in his life now, but he just didn't quite feel like if he could tell Stuart he rarely ever even went to his house these days. If he told him, he'd get all worked up about out it and insist on going with him to drop him off and whatnot, and Murdoc couldn't have that.

If his father found out he was seeing someone - anyone - he would never let him make contact with them ever again. He didn't want to imagine how his monster of a dad would react if he knew that it was another boy who he was dating. Neither of them would live long enough to see the next day if he were to find out.

Instead, Murdoc decided he'd keep quiet about it until he needed to. Although he still wasn't legally an adult and couldn't move out, he had never really been one to follow a lot of the laws around him. He could just as easily sneak out and live somewhere else, somewhere where he could be close to Stuart with no one there to interfere.

As he was thinking about it, he realized that he hadn't even asked what Stuart's parents thought about their friendship, if they even knew.

"Hey, Stuart, do your parents know about us?", Murdoc asked without turning to look at him.

Stuart silently stared at him as if he was trying to figure out if he was asking a rhetorical question. "Like...that we're going out?"

"Well, at least if they know we're friends."

"Oh," Stuart said, "Yeah, my mom knows we're friends."

Murdoc was about to ask why his father didn't know about it when he remembered that Stuart had told him how his father felt about people of his class. That they weren't worthy of having anything to do with those who were part of rich families.

"You've told your mom about me? Only bad things, I hope," Murdoc laughed.

Stuart frowned. "No, I tell her good things. There's nothing bad to say."

Murdoc knew this wasn't true, but he liked listening to the younger boy's praise or really anything that he had to say. Something about it just managed to help get his mind off of everything that was weighing him down.

"I told her how you found somewhere to stay during the storm just yesterday," he smiled, "She was happy to hear it was you who helped me out."

There was no way he could believe that.

"But was she really?", Murdoc asked.

"Yes!," Stuart shouted, "She did! And she even asked if you could come over for her to meet you."

"She what?", Murdoc mumbled.

"Yeah, she asked if you might be able to come over. She wants to see who the guy I'm always talking about is."

Murdoc gulped. "And what did you say...?"

Stuart looked at him and his expression slightly fell. "Don't worry, I told her you wouldn't be able to go if you didn't get permission."

Murdoc was relieved to hear that. As much as he liked Stuart, he couldn't bring himself to introduce himself to his parents like that. They'd ask all about his life at home and what his parents are like, or at least his one "parent". If they found out about his terrible and abusive home, they'd try contacting some sort of help group and he knew his father wouldn't like that. Things were just better off with no one knowing.

They changed the subject quickly and went off to talk about anything else. Before they knew it, they were just around the corner of the library's parking lot. Murdoc drove near the building and stopped at the entrance. There was a small sign taped to the doors.

"What's that?", Stuart asked.

"I don't know...", Murdoc said. He turned off the car and got out, Stuart following close behind.

They walked up to the sliding doors and read the note from closer.

"Oh, no...", Stuart muttered.

_Due to the recent heavy snow storms, the public library will be closed for indoor and outdoor repairs. This building will remain under reconstruction until further notice._

 

°°°•••°°°•••

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow, 1000 hits and 100 kudos?! Thank you so much, I didn't think we'd get this far! I really appreciate your support and kind words and I hope to keep seeing you in later chapters/works. Until then, bye!


	13. Chapter 13

They were both in shock. If the public library was closed, they had nowhere else to go. Stuart turned and looked at Murdoc, who had his jaw on the floor as he stared at the sign.

"Wh-What do we do now?!", Stuart shouted, "Where else can we go?"

Murdoc sighed. "Do you have any other place you wanna go to? Anywhere's fine."

Stuart sighed, "I'm not good at making decisions..."

Murdoc stared around the street to get some sort of idea for a place to go. There wasn't much on the street other than a second building for the library and the enormous parking lot. There was another park near the second building, but Murdoc didn't want to stay outdoors and risk Stuart getting sick. He began thinking he could just drop him off home and call it a day, but he didn't want to ruin their first official date as a formal couple.

"Maybe we should take you home," Murdoc suggested. Stuart looked at him with sorry eyes but sighed and nodded slowly.

"I guess, if we can't go anywhere else then..."

Murdoc felt bad for him. All he wanted was to spend a nice day with him and everything seemed to be telling them to not do it. It was as if their luck had suddenly disappeared as soon as they confessed how they felt for the second time. Nothing seemed to be going their way, no matter how hard they tried.

They both got into the car and silently drove out of the parking lot. As Murdoc was turning the corner, he saw a small building hidden behind the library's second building. It appeared to be a restaurant of sorts. It was mostly painted white and blue with large windows on either side. He read the name on a tall sign at the corner of the shop.

_The Lightning Swordfish_

Great. A seafood shop.

Murdoc sighed. He had never really been a fan of sea food. At least the place was better than nothing. He took a sharp turn and drove into the restaurant's parking lot.

"Where are we going?", Stuart asked as he looked out the window.

"You wanna go somewhere, right? Let's stop here and see what it's like."

Stuart smiled. "Didn't you say you didn't like seafood when we were chatting?"

"Well, you said you liked it. I'm sure I'll find something...edible."

"It's not _that_ bad," Stuart laughed, "Besides, they probably sell stuff that isn't seafood, like desserts or something."

Murdoc found a parking spot, something that wasn't too hard since there was barely anyone in there. There were only a few cars parked, some of which he assumed belonged to the employees. Murdoc turned off the car and looked at Stuart one last time before he had to get out.

"If I don't feel like paying, you're paying then, okay?"

Stuart silently looked at him a bit shocked and worried. He laughed nervously and lowered his stare. "I-I guess I can pay for it, if you want..."

"I was just joking," Murdoc added, "I won't steal your food if I can buy my own."

"Right," Stuart laughed, "I-I knew that!"

Stuart was being his usual adorable self, as always. Just talking to him was enough to get Murdoc's heart racing, he was so ridiculously cute that it seemed impossible for someone to be that way.

They got out of the car and walked over to the entrance of the small building. As Murdoc was opening the door for him, Stuart stopped and laced his fingers.

"I-If you really want me to pay, you don't have to worry about it, I brought some money with me."

Murdoc stared at him in silence for a few seconds too long until he cracked a smile.

"You really don't have to. It's our first formal-ish date, I don't want you to worry about it," Murdoc answered.

Stuart’s face went red at what he said and lowered his stare to hide it. Murdoc went in the shop and kept the door opened for Stuart. Stuart went in and stood next to him, observing the small restaurant.

There was one line of red and round tables lined up near the windows of the store. The seats were made of leather and cushioned with a soft grey color. The floor had large tiles that matched the color of the seats and a small puddle of water at the corner near the entrance. The ceiling was completely white and very clean with three large fans hanging from it. The windows had wooden blinds and were all halfway opened, allowing the pale snow to be seen from inside.

The counter in front of the kitchen had five tall stools lined up in front of it, they were the same red color as the tables.

The eerie silence in the room had only the exception of the ceiling fans squeaking as they spun quickly and the TV attached to the ceiling at a low volume. There were some metallic clinking sounds coming from deep in the kitchen, most likely the cooks making food.

"Well, let's sit," Murdoc said as he walked over to a table at the corner of the shop.

Stuart followed him and sat across from him at the round table. They looked over at the kitchen, waiting for someone to come out and ask for their order, but it didn't seem as if anyone even knew they were in there. Maybe a bell at the door would help them know when someone entered.

They turned back to look at each other and Stuart tapped his fingers on the table, waiting for something to happen.

"They didn't give us anything. Not even a menu or something like that," Murdoc grumbled.

"Just give them some time, I'm sure they're on it right now, looking for their best waiter," Stuart smiled, "Besides I already know what I want, I don't need no menu."

Murdoc didn't say anything back, only hoping that he was right and that they weren't as unprofessional as they seemed. Although, he had to admit, he shouldn't have expected much from a small business hidden behind a public library.

Just as they were waiting, a short Asian woman with black hair in a tight bun walked over to them from the kitchen. She was wearing an apron with the small swordfish logo on the on the chest over a sky blue collared shirt and black pants.

"What would you like today?", she asked as she took out a notepad and clicked her pen.

Murdoc turned to look at Stuart, who said he was ready to order without the need of a menu.

However, when he looked at the younger boy, he was wide-eyed and almost trembling as he stared at the waitress, a scared expression taking over his face.

Murdoc motioned for him to tell her what he wanted, but he only gulped and tightened his grip on his own hands.

"Do you have a menu we can look through?", Murdoc asked after the long silence.

"Ah, yes," she said as she pointed at a laminated poster on the wall, "From there."

Murdoc looked at it and then back at Stuart. Stuart was still frozen in place as he stared around the restaurant.

"Can we have some time to look for something?", Murdoc asked.

She nodded and walked back into the kitchen.

"What happened to knowing that you wanted to order?!", Murdoc whisper-shouted.

"I-I forgot what I wanted, I get nervous around strangers!", he answered.

Murdoc sighed but looked over at the menu. "Well, find something on the menu and I'll call her over once you've made up your mind," Murdoc said.

Stuart observed the menu, still keeping his fingers laced. "Hmm..."

Murdoc waited for him to choose from the rather small selection of meals.

"Th-That one looks nice...", Stuart said as he pointed at a meal.

"I can't even pronounce that," Murdoc said, "T...Tteo...bo-kee...?"

Stuart held back a laugh and looked closer at the spelling of the plate. "I can't say it either..."

"Then how are you gonna order it?", he asked.

"Mm...maybe if I point at it?"

Murdoc sighed. Ordering food from an Asian restaurant shouldn't be nearly this difficult.

"What are you gonna order?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc skimmed through the poster. "That ice cream filled dessert would be fine," he muttered.

Stuart searched for the dessert on the poster to see what it was like. When he found it, he smiled. "Wow, that looks good!"

"Then it's final, we're getting the tongue twister and the ice cream wrapped in dough," Murdoc said.

As he said that, the woman from earlier was walking out of the kitchen.

"Um, excuse me!", Murdoc called.

She looked at him and walked over. "You found what you were looking for?"

"Yeah, can I get that one," Murdoc said as he pointed at Stuart's choice, "And that one?"

The woman looked up to read the name of the plate. "Ah, tteokbokki?"

Murdoc nodded and watched her as she scribbled down in her notepad, "Would you like it with extra spice?"

Murdoc looked at Stuart, mentally asking for his opinion. Stuart just shrugged slightly and raised a brow.

"Yeah, extra spice," Murdoc added.

"Oh, you're sure? It's a very spicy plate," she said, pausing her writing.

"Um, do you charge extra for the extra stuff?", he asked.

"No, but you get a free drink of milk to go with it, just to make sure the client doesn't faint," she answered.

Murdoc was about to laugh, but he realized the woman had a completely serious expression. He cleared his throat and looked at her, "Yeah, extra spice."

"Okay," she muttered as she continued to write, "And that's it?"

"Yes," Murdoc finished.

"Okay, wait a few minutes," she smiled as she began walking back into the kitchen.

"Are you sure about the extra spice?", Stuart asked nervously.

"Well, it's just food," Murdoc said.

"I know, but she said clients have fainted!", Stuart muttered.

"She was just joking, you know?", Murdoc grumbled. Now that he mentioned it, maybe she really wasn't joking. There was a reason for every offer in a store and they wouldn't give a free drink for something so simple.

"Oh, also...I'm sorry about earlier," Stuart mumbled, "About getting nervous when I was supposed to order..."

Murdoc felt kind of bad now that he had gotten so frustrated with him. It was just in Stuart's nature to get nervous around strangers, he should've realized that at this point.

"It's okay, I'm sorry I yelled at you. Sort of," Murdoc said, "Sort of yelled at you, that is."

Stuart smiled and looked down at the table. From there, Murdoc admired his beauty, something he hadn't been able to do for quite some time. It seemed almost unrealistic that someone as sweet as Stuart had ended up at his side and how lucky he was to have taken the next step with him. When he had been told no one would ever see him that way, Stuart had showed up in an almost angelic way.

He was lucky to just even know him.

Murdoc stopped and called for Stuart's attention with a "Psst!"

Stuart looked up and saw Murdoc was right in front of him.

"What is it?", he asked.

"You just look really nice," Murdoc smiled.

Stuart's face went bright pink and he looked away. "Why would you say that? I don't like random compliments..."

Murdoc laughed and scooted closer, "Well, it's the truth."

Stuart puffed his cheeks and glared at him. "You just say that to make me feel embarrassed."

"Well, take it however you want," Murdoc said, "Just one more thing."

"What?", Stuart asked.

"I love you," he cooed.

"Gah!", Stuart cried as he hid his face in his hands.

Just as Murdoc was laughing, the door of the kitchen flung open. He stopped laughing and saw the waitress from before come out with two plates on a tray along with a large cup in her other hand. She walked over to them and placed each plate in front of them.

"Tteokbokki and mochi dessert," she said, "and a large cup of milk."

"Thanks," Murdoc said as she began walking back.

Stuart looked down at the plate and frowned. "She switched the..."

"The plates and who they belong to," Murdoc finished, "Doesn't matter, you said you were afraid of how spicy it might be, I'll just hold on to yours for now."

Stuart nodded and grabbed a spoon from a container at the center of the table. Murdoc grabbed a fork from the same container and hesitated to taste the food. If it was really as spicy as he imagined, he didn't want to have to numb his mouth with the sauce. It was then that he had his genius idea.

"Hey, Stuart!"

The younger boy looked up and saw Murdoc was holding out a piece of the spicy food on a fork, offering it to him. Stuart seemed confused as he looked at the food and then back up at Murdoc.

His idea was to feed the spicy food to him into his mouth. It was a romantic idea, similar to how couples did it in the movies. Only that he planned it in a rather rude and joking way as opposed to the traditional lovey-dovey way.

"Open wide!", Murdoc cooed.

Stuart smiled and looked at him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to have a couple moment with you! Something nice to remember once time passes by," he explained.

"Oh...", Stuart muttered. His face went red and he scooted closer to the table.

"Say 'ahh'"

"A-Aah..."

Murdoc pushed the fork into his mouth and Stuart closed his mouth as soon as he did. It took a while for him to notice. At first, Stuart was just smiling at him as he chewed on the rice cake. Murdoc smiled back, but because he was holding back a laugh more than because he was enjoying such a sweet moment.

When the boy finally realized, it still took him some time to process it all. Stuart began chewing slower and stopped smiling as he furrowed his eyebrows, trying to understand why his mouth was suddenly tingling.

It all hit him at once as he spat out the food and gasped for air. Murdoc cackled as he saw Stuart panting and reaching for the large bottle of milk, eyes watering as he chugged down the glass cup. All this only made him laugh even more, slapping his knee as he did.

When Stuart finally calmed down, he could only watch as Murdoc laughed uncontrollably. He didn't really understand what was so funny. Murdoc saw his pouty and rather scared face and tried to control his laughter.

"It's okay, it's a joke!", Murdoc managed to say as he paused his laughter.

"Oh!"

Stuart smiled and began laughing with him. "I thought you had just done it to mess with me!"

Murdoc laughed even more, only at the comment Stuart had shared. His obliviousness to Murdoc's rudeness was something he felt guilty for laughing at.

When they both eventually stopped laughing, Stuart had already forgotten what they were even laughing at. They continued eating peacefully, at least for a few moments until the main entrance was opened again.

Stuart peaked over to see who had entered and gasped. He buried his face in his arms and squealed.

"What is it?", Murdoc asked.

"Sshh! It's them!"

Murdoc turned to look at the newcomers and recognized them. It was Stuart's friend, Russel, accompanied by a shorter girl who was tugging at his sleeve as she walked over to the front counter.

Murdoc squinted to try and see who it was, also making sure to try and listen in on their conversation.

"Good food!", the girl cheered.

He looked back at Stuart who was peeking over at them from his arms.

"Who's that girl?", Murdoc whispered.

"Her name's Noodle, she's a Japanese transfer student," Stuart whispered back, "I don't really know why she's with him or why they're even here..."

Murdoc turned back at the other two, they didn't seem to have noticed them. When he was trying to hear what they were saying, he heard Stuart's chair moving back. When he looked down, he saw Stuart was hiding under the table.

"What are you doing?!", Murdoc whisper-shouted.

"I can't let them see me! If Russel finds out that I'm with you again, he'll never wanna talk with me again!"

Murdoc turned back at them, quite at the wrong moment. Russel was looking right back at him, rather shocked at seeing Murdoc there.

Russel turned around quickly, hoping he hadn't noticed him. Murdoc was more worried about the other having had seen Stuart.

The girl ordered her food from the counter and stayed standing near the counter as she waited. Murdoc scooted closer to the table, hoping he could hide the other boy better if he did. Unfortunately, he kneed Stuart right in the face as he was getting closer.

"Ow!", Stuart whisper-shouted.

"S-Sorry!", Murdoc muttered under his breath. He looked back again and saw Russel was squinting in his direction for about half a second before he went back to hiding his face.

After a few suspenseful minutes, the newcomers had eventually left the shop with a foam box full of food. Murdoc waited for them to completely leave until he told Stuart they were gone.

"Stu, they're gone."

Stuart peeked from under the table one last time and made sure they were really out of sight. When he confirmed they were completely gone, Stuart got up and sat back in his seat.

"That was close...", Stuart muttered.

"Yeah, well, what were they even doing here?", Murdoc asked.

"I don't even know for sure. Y-You don't think they saw me, right?"

Murdoc sighed, "No, I'm sure they didn't see you. But your friend definitely saw me."

Stuart lost all the color in his face. "Wh-What?! Which one?!"

"That guy, Russel."

Stuart put his hands at the sides of his head and stared at the table in panic. "Oh, what am I gonna do now?!"

"It can't be that bad, can it? I mean, he won't stop being your friend just cause I hang out with you. In fact, it should be the opposite. If he knows I'm friends with you, he'll wanna keep a closer watch on me and never even separate from you."

Stuart sighed. "You do have a point..."

Murdoc felt a bit jealous as he heard him admit it. What should his friend be so nosy about with who Stuart hung out with? He only had eyes for him, Stuart shouldn't have to worry about other guys getting worked up about who he dated. The flaming anger building up deep inside him was calmed down when Stuart looked back up at him.

"Anyway, let's keep eating," Stuart smiled. Murdoc nodded and continued to eat the squishy dessert.

He looked up at the TV that had been interrupted by a news story. Because it was at such a low volume, Murdoc struggled to hear what the woman on TV was saying.

_"In more recent news, three high school students from a neighborhood school have been arrested due to charges of assault, theft and illegal possession of drugs. Now to Ben with more details on the story."_

"Stuart, look, look!", Murdoc said as he pointed at the TV. Stuart turned around and looked up at the TV.

_"Police were notified of unusual behavior in a neighborhood near the high school the boys attended. The neighbor called to tell police officers to come and simply stop the teenagers from causing so many disturbances. What they found in their house was truly shocking. There were multiple high-class drugs hidden throughout the house that the high schoolers later admitted they were producing at home. The teens also later admitted to police of their previous crimes, majority of which were reportedly drug-induced."_

_"What you see on screen now is photos of the three boys that will face a proper trial next week."_

Stuart saw the faces and gasped. It was the school bullies.

"Isn't that..."

Murdoc silently stared in awe as he realized everything that had just been said. If they were gone, he'd finally be able to comfortably be with Stuart without the fear of him being taken away from him.

"They're gone...", Murdoc muttered after a long silence.

Stuart turned to look at Murdoc and sighed in relief. "They are..."

°°°•••°°°•••

After eating at the small shop, Stuart and Murdoc walked out and continued to drive around the streets, looking for something else to do since it was still before noon. They talked about the school bullies for the majority of their car ride. Stuart hadn't mentioned it before, but the bullies were already in their last year of high school, which meant they were able to go to prison if they were rightfully judged.

There was still the imminent fear of getting caught by anyone else, such as Stuart's friends or his parents, but the most worrisome of their problems was now gone. It was an unbelievable relief to know they would be gone for at least the next week until their trial was made.

They drove around, not really going anywhere in specific. Anywhere where he could be with Stuart was a great place to be in, at least in Murdoc's mind. The joy Stuart seemed to constantly radiate was a pleasant contrast to the dull and often solitary mood his life had. Murdoc had been leading this lifestyle since he could remember. Just him and his thoughts, that was all that he believed he needed. That was until he met the younger boy.

"Hey, can I ask you something?", Stuart mumbled.

"Depends," Murdoc said jokingly as he kept his eyes on the road.

"Um...you never really told me if you'd like to come over," Stuart said silently, "To my house, of course."

Murdoc glanced at him and let out a sigh. "Listen, I would if I could, but I know your parents have views that are... _different_ than yours about people like me."

Stuart nodded and smiled weakly. "I understand, it was really wrong of me to ask..."

"But I don't want you to take it as an insult to your family. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to talk with them about something like this. Supposing that we told them what we have going for us."

"But what if we didn't?", Stuart asked, "Could you...could you at least reconsider your choice?"

Murdoc glanced over at him one last time and bleakly smiled. "Sure."

Stuart smiled and looked out the window. "I'm glad..."

He felt guilty. He knew he wasn't a good influence on the younger boy. He was hiding something this important from his family solely because of himself. Eventually, these lies would extend in number and importance, ending with him keeping secrets that were priorities for his parents. Murdoc knew all this, but he couldn't help it. He was selfish when it came to anything with Stuart and couldn't bring himself to stop and think about everything else. Seeing Stuart happy with him kept him at bay from cutting things off with him. He wouldn't be able to do it a second time.

°°°•••°°°•••

After so much searching for a place to stay, Stuart spoke up about where he wanted to go.

"Maybe we should go to the park we had gone to before?", Stuart suggested.

Murdoc turned to look at him and raised a brow. "Do we just go there for every single date? Are we already out if ideas?"

Stuart grinned and let out a small laugh. "Or we can go somewhere else, I guess."

"Why don't we just take you back home now?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart shook his head. "I don't wanna leave yet..."

"Are you sure?", Murdoc asked, "I'm sure your parents wouldn't be too happy if they found out you've been gone all morning."

Stuart sighed. "They'll understand if I tell them I was with my friend. Besides, I just want to spend more time with you. You don't want to?"

"Of course I want to, but I don't want you to get in trouble because of it", Murdoc muttered.

"Okay then. I won't get in any more trouble just for you," he smiled. Murdoc smiled back and went back to focusing on the road.

"So where are we going?", Murdoc asked.

"Um...", Stuart mumbled, "I heard there was a nice bowling alley near here."

"You like bowling?", Murdoc asked.

"Well, I've never really tried it before, but I'd like to! Have you played before?", Stuart asked.

"A few times, but I'm no professional in it," Murdoc answered.

"Great! You can teach me, can't you?", Stuart said with a beaming smile.

Murdoc was so captured by Stuart's joy that he didn't even think about it twice and agreed to take him. Teaching someone how to go bowling couldn't be too hard, it was all in the practice. Murdoc made sure to tell himself this as he drove to the bowling alley, hoping he wouldn't disappoint Stuart with the long process.

When they arrived, they were slightly surprised to see how empty the parking lot was. There wasn't usually a lot of people in these sort of places, but it was never so empty to a point in which it looked somewhat creepy. Then again, they had to keep in mind that the weather was one of the many reasons people refused to leave their homes in the first place. People preferred to stay in the warmth and comfort of their homes than to come out and freeze their face off because they wanted to go bowling.

The building didn't look very impressing either, there were icicles hanging from the roof and the window sills were covered in snow, the glass already had frost coated on it. The building itself, however, seemed to be in good conditions. It wasn't anything fancy, he words "BOWLING ALLEY" were painted on the front of the building with black paint, a contrast to the white color of the building.

Murdoc turned off the car when they got there and he stayed seated for a while.

"What's wrong?", Stuart asked.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking," Murdoc said.

Stuart furrowed his eyebrows and got closer. "About what?"

Murdoc looked up at the boy and smiled. "About how happy I am to be with you right now."

Stuart’s face went bright red and he had to look away. Murdoc watched as he sighed and hid his face in his hands. "You have to stop saying those types of things when I'm not ready for them..."

Murdoc laughed and waited for Stuart to collect himself.

"Are you done?", Stuart asked quietly.

"I'm done," Murdoc said.

Stuart took his hands off his face and exhaled deeply. "Let's go then."

He opened the car door and got out, Murdoc did the same and nearly tripped with the slippery ice on the pavement. He was lucky to have gotten a hold of the car's roof before he fell, it would have been a pretty painful fall if he hadn't.

Almost as soon as Murdoc had grabbed on, he heard something slide and fall, accompanied by a loud yelp.

It didn't sound like Stuart had been as lucky.

He quickly, but carefully, made his way over to Stuart. He was laying on the floor, facing up and with his knees raised in the air. Murdoc turned to look away almost as soon as he saw him, such a pose was just not right to gawk at in public.

"I hurt my head...", Stuart mumbled.

Murdoc tried walking closer, keeping his eyes away from Stuart’s wide-open legs. Even if he had jeans on, something about the temptation was rather uncontrollable. He bent down and helped Stuart by pulling him up.

"Are you okay?", Murdoc asked.

"I think I'm fine, I've had worse falls before...", he muttered.

Murdoc stopped and thought about what he said. He had really been through a lot, mostly due to those bullies from school, but he was glad they'd be long gone soon. As long as he was with him now, Stuart would never get hurt again. At least not by other people. There'd be minor accidents such as this one, but other than that, he'd be safe.

Stuart shook off the remaining snow on his clothes and looked back up at Murdoc with a large smile.

"Let's go."

°°°•••°°°•••


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've finished this fic at last! The last chapters still need some editing and revising, but it's overall complete. I'll still stick to my upload schedule because I have some other projects I need time to work on. See you!

They both carefully walk to the entrance, making sure not to slide and fall with the slippery frozen floor. Luckily, there were small hills of snow every few steps, so they could walk in them without slipping and falling.

Murdoc opened the glass door and let Stuart enter first. When he did, Murdoc followed him in and immediately noticed the strong smell of wood. The smell was nice, but he wasn't really a fan of the lack in heating systems. The large building was basically the same temperature from outside. If it were to get too cold, Stuart would most likely catch a cold even indoors.

Luckily, the younger boy was wearing plenty of warm clothes, so he didn't have too much to worry about.

"You know, I've never been bowling before, so I don't really know what to do...", Stuart said under his breath.

"It's simple," Murdoc said, "You'll get it really soon."

He pulled in Stuart by his hand and brought him to the main counter. There was a young man who was looking down at his phone as they approached.

Murdoc cleared his throat to get his attention, already feeling unamused by the unprofessional employee.

The man looked up at them and put his phone in his pocket. "What do you need?"

Murdoc sighed and kept himself from talking back in a way in which he may have sounded rude. He couldn't mess up the date if they were already that deep in it. Murdoc decided he'd just have to deal with the current situation if he wanted to get anywhere far with Stuart, at least for today.

°°°•••°°°•••

After talking with the distracted employee at the counter, they had gotten ready to begin bowling, but Stuart seemed a bit nervous.

"It's fine if you don't get it the first try," Murdoc assured him. Stuart nodded and took a deep breath as he approached the lane.

Murdoc knew he wouldn't make it. If Stuart had really never played, he had no way of even knocking down one pin. Not even he was that good and he had played several times.

"Wait, how do I do it again?", Stuart asked, his voice echoing in the large room.

"I've told you already," Murdoc said, "Just relax and have fun."

Stuart turned his attention back to the lane and furrowed his eyebrows. Murdoc watched intently from a table as the other boy took the heavy ball with both hands and prepared to throw. Already he was doing it wrong, but it was entertaining to watch him clumsily swing the ball around.

Eventually, Stuart threw the ball and watched as it rolled down to the pins. Murdoc was surprised it hadn't landed in the gutter yet and got closer as he saw it making its way to the pins rather quickly.

With lots of loud banging coming from the end of the lane, Murdoc saw as all the pins were toppled over in one simple throw. Stuart gasped and turned to look at him.

"D-Did I do it?", Stuart asked sheepishly.

Murdoc was in shock as he processed everything. "Y-Yeah..."

Stuart smiled and began cheering. "I didn't think I'd do it on the first try!"

"Me neither...", Murdoc muttered. There was no way that was even possible.

"Stuart, are you sure that was your first time playing?"

He laughed quietly and walked over to him. "Yeah, I've never really been in a bowling alley or anything like that. Why? Am I that good already?"

Beginner's luck. It had to be that. He had just gotten lucky.

"Yeah, that was...pretty impressive."

Stuart sat next to him and turned to look at him.

"Aren't you gonna try?", he asked.

"Yeah, of course," Murdoc said as he got up. He had to do it, he had to show Stuart he could bowl without any beginner's luck.

He walked over to the lane and grabbed a ball from the ones lined up. Murdoc took a deep breath and concentrated on the pins. He had to knock them all out.

Stuart watched from the table he had previously been sitting in. Murdoc gave one step forward and rolled out the ball with all his focus.

In a matter of seconds, the ball had rolled into the gutter and completely missed the pins. Just perfect.

He turned to look at Stuart. He was in just as much shock as he was. The only thing to be heard was the machinery at work from behind the lane.

"Remember, it's okay to not get it on the first try!", Stuart shouted from his seat with a hopeful smile.

Murdoc sighed and turned back to the lane. One more chance and he'd show him all his talent.

Murdoc grabbed another one of the balls and prepared to throw again, keeping his eyes on the pins and his focus on getting them all on the floor. He gave another large step and let the ball roll towards the pins. They seemed to be going in the right direction.

In an almost immediate way, the ball rolled past the pins, knocking down absolutely none of them.

Murdoc only watched in silence, wishing he could just disappear from there with no one knowing he had done so terribly.

"Um," Stuart started, "You did...great! Trying is all that matters!"

Murdoc sighed as he made his way to the table with him. "Thanks, but I know I'm awful."

Stuart frowned and scooted closer to him. "You're not awful! It's just been a while since you've played. I bet you're usually a pro when it comes to bowling."

He was so cute. He was adorable and Murdoc didn't know what he had done to deserve Stuart. It had to be some sort of dream.

"You wanna keep trying?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart nodded quickly and walked to the lane again. Murdoc just sat back in his seat and watched the younger boy struggle to carry the bowling ball.

After he had gotten a good grip of it, Stuart rolled it out again and watched it yet again drive right into the pins and knocked them all down.

Stuart cheered and jumped around in excitement. Murdoc, on the other hand, slammed his head onto the table in disbelief and shame.

°°°•••°°°•••

After spending about an hour in the bowling alley - with Stuart scoring a vast majority of the points - the time had come for the younger boy to be dropped off back home. Stuart had protested against it for a few minutes, but he eventually agreed that his mother would be worried as to where he had gone. They both left the building and got in the car to drive off to Stuart’s house.

"Are you sure we can't go to one last place?", Stuart asked.

"I already told you, I can't keep you all day, even if I wanted to. I don't want your parents to get a bad idea about me before I've even properly met them."

Stuart sighed and slumped down in the car seat. When he really realized what Murdoc said, he was quick to stand straight up again and his face glowed.

"So, does that mean you will meet them? You'll come over some day?", Stuart asked eagerly.

"Well, some day doesn't mean right now or in a few days. Some day means when we've spent at least three weeks together," Murdoc said.

"Aww, that's no fair! Technically, we've already been together for three weeks, if you count the days after my confession!"

Murdoc sighed. "It's not the same thing."

"So, I have to wait until the end of November for you to come over?", Stuart asked.

"If you're lucky."

Stuart glared at him and crossed his arms as Murdoc smirked at his reaction.

"When you get home, connect with me on the chat room," Murdoc said, "Does that sound good?"

Stuart nodded quickly and smiled from ear to ear. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Since we talked on there?"

"Well, yeah, but it's also been a while since we got this close," Stuart added.

"What do you mean? We've never gotten this close before. Not for this long."

Stuart looked down and sighed. "Yeah, you're right."

°°°•••°°°•••

Murdoc kept driving to Stuart’s house but, again, stopped a few houses farther to keep away suspicions. When he stopped the car, Stuart didn't get off and instead kept staring down.

"We're here," Murdoc muttered.

Stuart looked up at him and took a deep breath.

"Can I ask you something?", he mumbled.

"About what?", Murdoc asked.

"It's something that's been on my mind since the storm," Stuart said, "It's nothing serious or anything, but I've just been wondering..."

Murdoc felt at ease until he remembered what had happened that night. He remembered how he had stolen a kiss form the younger boy that same night. Had he noticed? Had he actually been awake when he did it? Murdoc felt his heart try to escape from his chest as he waited for Stuart to finish talking.

"Just in how many relationships have you been in?", Stuart finished.

Murdoc felt relief flow through him as he finished talking. He hadn't noticed.

"Well, a few. I started in my first year of high school, if you want a hint of how many," Murdoc said. He lied.

He had never been in a formal relationship. Sure, he had gone to parties and hooked up with a few girls there, but it had never gone beyond sexual relationships.

"Oh," Stuart mumbled, his face seeming a bit hurt. "Well, since you know so much about relationships, what would you...what would you rate me as a partner?"

Murdoc bit back a laugh when Stuart said that. He sounded like some sort of salesman that was asking for a good review on a website for his business.

"A ten, I guess. You're pretty great."

Stuart cleared his throat, "Even if I...if I don't have the courage for us to do the intimate couple stuff together?"

Murdoc sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Stuart fidgeted with his fingers as he waited for Murdoc to respond.

"It's got nothing to do with that, okay? I do it for your own sake, so don't think it's an inconvenience to me. When you're ready for that type of thing, you can just tell me. I'll wait," Murdoc finished.

Stuart heaved a sigh and looked down again.

"And...wh-what if I tell you I'd like to try now?", Stuart muttered.

Murdoc had to make a double take on what he had just said. Had he heard that right? Stuart, his innocent and naive little guy, was asking for that sort of thing? There was no way this was even real.

"You want to?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart glanced around the car as if he was looking for some sort of answer. He began nodding slowly, just enough to notice.

"But nothing too intense! I guess we can get there little by little, if you want...", Stuart said.

"Well, it's not about what I want...", Murdoc added, "And what do you mean with 'nothing too intense'?"

"Ah, well, I was thinking...m-maybe a kiss?", Stuart suggested silently.

"Are you sure?", Murdoc asked, "One hundred percent?"

Stuart nodded, "More of a seventy-five percent..."

Murdoc felt his heart throbbing at the sight of the younger boy being so shy. He was just adorable when he was nervous about something, in a way in which he just wanted to hug him tightly and keep him there.

"Okay, well, it'll be simple," Murdoc said, "Nothing very impressing."

Stuart looked up and slowly leaned in. Murdoc did the same and noticed Stuart was trembling slightly.

Murdoc reached his hand out and grabbed Stuart's wrist slowly, hoping to comfort him in some way.

Eventually, their lips made contact rather quickly and almost in an unnoticeable way. Right when it had started, it had ended. Murdoc moved back and saw Stuart's face was glowing red. He smiled at the younger boy who was now looking down nervously.

"That was nice," Stuart mumbled.

"Yeah, that was pretty...quick," Murdoc said.

Stuart looked at him and frowned.

"I know I'm not a very experienced kisser, but was it really that bad?", he asked.

"That wasn't bad! It's not about how long it lasts, as long as we're going at a pace comfortable enough for you ."

Stuart furrowed his eyebrows and lowered his stare.

"It's about me, right?", Stuart asked, "Are the kisses really okay? Wouldn't you prefer someone else?"

Murdoc scoffed. "Who else is so talented and cute and beautiful? Who else do I see the way I see you?"

Stuart’s face went bright red again and he puffed his cheeks in frustration. Murdoc laughed at his reaction and messed with Stuart's hair as a form of affection.

He sighed and looked over at Stuart's house.

"You should probably get going home, they'll start worrying," he said.

Stuart nodded and opened the car door to get out. When he got out, he stayed at the door and looked inside.

"See you tomorrow in school," Stuart said, "We should do this again some time...if you want."

"Of course I want to," Murdoc answered, "Can we do this every weekend?"

Stuart thought about it for a while and then nodded. "But I gotta get permission. I'll ask once I get there."

Murdoc agreed and Stuart smiled in return. He waved at him as he walked away until he was completely gone. Stuart walked up to the front door of his house and was out of sight.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart walked in and, unsurprisingly, there seemed to be no one home again.

His father had recently gotten a job in a small business out of town, which explained why he was gone the entire morning. His mother, on the other hand, had her job as a nurse but she didn't usually start until later in the morning. There was really no reason for her to be gone, unless she had just left. She wouldn't have left if she saw he wasn't home or anywhere to be found, though.

Stuart walked over to his room and saw the note he had left on his door was still there, completely untouched. He took the note down and walked into his room to throw it in his trash bin.

Stuart began to change into more comfortable clothes and to relax until the day was over. As he walked in, he saw something shining on his bed. He walked over to it and saw it was his phone. Stuart gasped and only now he realized he had left his phone at home. He opened it up and saw several notifications, majority from his mother.

Stuart opened the messaging app and scrolled through all her texts. She had started texting early in the morning, telling him she had gone to work earlier today and that she wouldn't be back until past afternoon. That explained a lot.

Stuart was partially glad that she had been gone the whole day, that way she wouldn't find out he was gone and he wouldn't have to explain anything to her. Stuart kept scrolling through the messages and saw several were asking about where he was or why he wasn't responding. Stuart figured he'd leave the messages alone and just tell her he had been busy indoors all day once she arrived.

He turned off his phone and laid back on the soft and large bed. It had been such an exhausting day and he had used a lot of his energy for the date.

Just thinking about caused Stuart to smile. He kept being brought back to the kiss in the car. That had been his first time being with anyone, his first kiss and his first real date. He hoped there'd be many more now that he was with Murdoc, as he had said, they'd be able to do it all over again every weekend. Well, that was if he got permission from his mother to go out whenever he had to.

As Stuart thought more about it, he realized they still hadn't exchanged phone numbers or any other way of contacting each other. He figured that would've been one of the first things couples naturally do, but they hadn't even brought up anything about communication with the exception of the chat room.

Stuart figured he could just ask Murdoc about it once they started chatting online again. For now, he needed to relax and reflect on his long morning. Everything that had just happened seemed so unrealistic, as if it where some sort of dream or a hazy memory. Despite it seeming so unbelievable, he still remembered every single detail about it, something he could never really do with dreams.

Just as he was drifting away in his thoughts, he heard the front door open and he sat up to see who it could be.

Stuart walked to the door of his room and peeked from the doorway. It was just his mother coming back from work. He got out of the room and went to greet her.

"Hey," Stuart smiled.

"Why weren't you responding to any of my messages?", she asked, "I kept asking about it and I began to get worried."

Stuart looked around the room and thought of what to tell her. "Well, I was really busy fixing my bedroom and all, so I didn't hear the notifications."

"You cleaned?", she muttered, "I should leave you home alone more often."

Stuart was about to bring up how she already did, but decided it'd be best to stay quiet about it before she tried adjusting her work schedule because she thought Stuart was complaining. 

"I was wondering if you would let me, um...", he started.

"If I would let you...?"

"My friend asked if I could hang out with him over the weekends, at least for a little while," Stuart said.

"Is it the friend you always talk about? If it's him, then it's okay. Would I have to drive you to his house?"

"Ah...no, it's okay. He can come pick me up," Stuart responded.

"Really? He can drive?", she asked, "I'm assuming he has a license now, right?"

Stuart nodded but he wasn't really sure either. Did Murdoc have a license? If he didn't, they could get in really serious trouble.

"Okay, so he'd come to pick you up. That's great, I could use that time to maybe get to meet him in person," she smiled.

Stuart laughed nervously and nodded. He should've realized that his mother would use this chance to see what Murdoc was like. In any case, he had permission now and he didn't have to worry about sneaking out with no one noticing.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart felt a familiar excitement to go to school. He looked forward to going there. The feeling reminded him of when he would go to school and meet up with Murdoc, before his accident and all the other trouble that had taken place in the past. Stuart genuinely felt happy about seeing him again in his writing class and seeing him from across the class as he focused on anything that wasn't their assignment.

He changed into his clothes and prepared to get to school. Before he left, he remembered to bring the library book he had checked out only a few days ago. Stuart decided he would stop by the library before he got to class that morning.

He hurried out of his house and walked to the school, feeling eager to start his day.

°°°•••°°°•••

Once he entered, Stuart went into the library to put his book back. He hadn't finished reading it since it hadn't managed to get his attention too much and he had still been too busy to even move on past the first chapter. He opened the door to the library and stepped into the cold and large room. There seemed to be no one in there, only the familiar smell of old books and the vanilla-scented air refreshener.

Stuart put the book on the counter and walked to the area where the tables were. He wanted to check out another book, but he thought about it and decided he'd just go back to class. The end of the year was approaching and he didn't want to keep any books he hadn't turned in over the break.

He turned back around and walked to the door. Stuart still had plenty of time before classes started, so he figured he'd stay and just hang out around the school.

°°°•••°°°•••

Not long after he had started wandering, Stuart found himself walking near the empty classroom he had shared with Murdoc at one point. It seemed to have not been long since it had happened, but it had definitely been a while now. Stuart stopped at the door of the room and looked at it, hoping it'd somehow open on its own and that he'd be able to enter again.

As he was standing there, Stuart heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Are you revisiting memories?"

He turned around and saw Murdoc was walking over, wearing his usual dark sweater and carrying his backpack on one shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess," Stuart laughed.

"You know, I still have the key," Murdoc said.

"You do?", Stuart whispered as he got closer, "You didn't get it taken away by any teachers all this time?"

Murdoc snorted. "I held on to this key for three years, I'm not losing it in just one month."

Stuart laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Right..."

"Do you wanna go in?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart looked at him for a while and then nodded. "I'd like that."

Murdoc grinned at him and began digging through his backpack. He kept looking through it for a while until he raised his hand, holding the small silver key.

Murdoc stepped to the door and began unlocking it, Stuart cautiously looking around the hallways to make sure no one saw them.

He opened the door and slowly opened it to let Stuart enter first. Stuart rushed in and looked out the door one last time, just watching out for any adults. When Murdoc walked in, he shut the door behind them and locked it.

"Just to make sure," Murdoc added.

Stuart looked back into the room and saw it all almost looked the same. The desk's were arrayed the same way and the boxes were just as misplaced. The only difference was the lighting that was entering. Instead of the yellowish color the room had before, there was a gray blue tint filling the room. It seemed rather lonely and it gave the room a depressing feeling.

Murdoc sat on a nearby chair and looked at Stuart from there. "Why did you wanna come back?"

Stuart shrugged and walked towards him slowly. "I just like it in here, I think..."

That earned a smile from Murdoc. Stuart smiled back and sat at a desk across from him. It was then that he remembered he wanted to ask him something.

"I never really got a phone number from you," Stuart said.

Murdoc looked up at him and raised a brow. "Do you want it?"

Stuart shrugged. "It'd be helpful over the break," he mumbled.

Murdoc thought about it and decided he'd give him his number now that the chance was there. He reached out his arm in Stuart's direction.

Stuart looked at him, puzzled and frowned. "Um?"

"Let me see your phone so I could put in my number."

"Oh!". Stuart looked through his backpack for his phone. He felt a bit embarrassed that he hadn't known what Murdoc was talking about.

He found it and handed it to Murdoc. He took it, opened up the phone application and began typing in his phone number.

When he finished, he handed it back to Stuart and began looking through his backpack for his own phone. He took it out and asked Stuart for his phone number.

"Can't I just put it in?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc thought about it for a while. He had some stuff on his phone he wasn't proud of, but he figured he'd have to trust Stuart with his phone's contents in order to establish trust between them.

"Here," Murdoc said as he handed Stuart his phone. Stuart took it carefully and began putting in his number. Once finished, he gave it back to Murdoc.

"Now we can call each other whenever we're lonely!", Stuart smiled.

Murdoc nodded and put his phone back in his backpack. He got out of his seat and sat on the desk so he was facing towards Stuart.

"What do we do now?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc shrugged and scooted the desk closer to the younger boy. He looked at him and admired his face. It had only been a day since he had seen him, but it felt as if it had been so long. Murdoc looked at his eyes and saw he was wearing his contacts again. He could only imagine that his eyes got itchy after wearing those things for so long.

"Why don't you take those off?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart’s face glowed red and he crossed his arms in front of him. "T-Take what off?"

"Your eye contacts," Murdoc said, "What did you think I meant?"

Stuart looked away and puffed his cheeks, "Nothing..."

"Anyway," Stuart started, "Why do you want me to take them off?"

"Don't they hurt? I mean, you wear those practically all day," he said.

Stuart looked down and put his hand at his own face, "I guess they hurt a little. But it's not that bad, I grew used to the feeling."

Murdoc glared at Stuart, not believing a single bit of that. "Are you sure?"

"I think," Stuart mumbled.

"Well, can you take them off for _me_? At least for right now," Murdoc said.

Stuart sighed and began taking off his contacts. "Only because you wanted me to..."

He looked back up with his completely dark eyes, Murdoc still wasn't used to seeing them like that. It wasn't like he was uncomfortable with the other having dark eyes, but it brought back the memory of what he caused. The guilt of knowing he could've stopped Stuart's accident was always brought back when he saw his eyes.

"There?", Stuart asked, breaking the silence.

"You should keep them like that more often," Murdoc said, "You know, to get used to them."

Stuart raised a brow, "Are you sure? I don't look too good without the contacts."

"You look good in any way," Murdoc said. He took a moment to process what he said and surprised himself once he did.

"Not to make you feel uncomfortable or anything, I just said that because it just came to my mind really quickly," Murdoc explained.

Stuart nodded and cleared his throat. "What do we do? I mean, we're already here."

He had a point. They were already there. Alone and with no one to interfere. Murdoc's mind took a turn and began diving into less than appropriate thoughts. He was alone with Stuart and the idea of going down on him in a semi-public place seemed intriguing to say the least. The thoughts of him taking Stuart there were flooding his mind and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to contain himself for much longer.

Murdoc lost control for a second and leaned in closer to Stuart. It was like a magnetic force bringing him closer to the younger boy and he didn't have any control over it. He leaned in closer and closer, getting just close enough to feel Stuart’s breath on his lips.

 

Then he went in for a kiss.

°°°•••°°°•••


	15. Chapter 15

Stuart’s heart began racing in fear and anxiety. It didn't help that his thoughts seemed to have frozen along with all his body, all in shock. What was he supposed to do?

It's not like he had been warned beforehand about receiving a kiss. He hadn't even practiced before, either. Stuart panicked and waited for it to be over. He was sure kisses were supposed to be nice, but when they were given out so suddenly, they were rather terrifying.

When it was finally over, Stuart gasped for air and scooted back on the desk. Murdoc looked at him and seemed to be processing what he had done too.

"What was that?!", Stuart cried, "Y-You could've told me!"

Murdoc shrugged and laughed nervously. Stuart's face began heating up, either in embarrassment or frustration.

"It was a kiss," Murdoc said casually.

Stuart scoffed and glared at him. He struggled to find the words he wanted to say, blabbering out some nonsense while he did.

"S-School's not a place for kissing!", he finally managed to shout, "It's a place for learning!"

Murdoc grinned at his comment but held back from laughing out loud.

"It's okay, no one saw us. I won't do it again, okay?", he said.

Stuart sighed and dropped his shoulders. "It's not that, it's just that...you should've told me before. I would have tried to do good, at least."

"If that's it, then I promise I won't steal any more kisses from you," Murdoc said.

Stuart furrowed his eyebrows but didn't say anything back. He really didn't have anything to say. He would admit it, but now that it had happened, he felt excited in a way. Something about the sudden move caused him to feel adrenaline rushing through him. The forceful kiss made him feel energetic in a way he couldn't explain. It was as if that kiss had flicked some sort of switch inside him.

He couldn't deny it, he had enjoyed it now that it had happened.

"You okay?", Murdoc asked as he looked down at him.

Stuart nodded weakly, still in a bit of shock from everything. He didn't want to look up at the other boy. If he did, he'd most likely ask to get a second kiss.

"If you're okay, then we should get going. I'm sure you need to take a moment."

Stuart frowned and looked up. "I don't want to leave yet."

Murdoc looked down at him in a bit of confusion. "What else do you want to do, then?"

Stuart thought about it. He knew what he wanted, alright. At least what his heart wanted. His mind kept telling him to be responsible and to not ask for another kiss. If he wasn't careful, he'd end up pregnant from so much hugging and kissing and he definitely wasn't ready to become a teen parent. He had learned that after watching so many reality TV shows.

"I think you're right," Stuart muttered, "I should just get going back to class."

Murdoc nodded and walked over to the door. Stuart took this chance to put his contacts back in.

He watched as Murdoc reached into his pocket and took out the small key. He had lost his chance to ask for a second kiss.

Stuart could only hope he hadn't made the older boy feel bad about the kiss. He hadn't hated it, he really had enjoyed it, as scary as it felt at first. If Murdoc thought he wanted to leave because of it, Stuart couldn't help but feel guilty.

He walked out of the room and looked back at Murdoc. "Can I ask you something?"

Murdoc closed the door and looked at Stuart. "What?"

"Can you...walk me to class?", Stuart asked sheepishly.

He looked at him for a few moments and then nodded. "Where's your class?"

Stuart smiled, feeling glad that Murdoc had agreed to take him. "It's upstairs."

"Let's go then," Murdoc said. He began walking down the hallway towards one of the many staircases in the building. Stuart followed him, clutching his backpack's shoulder strap tightly.

°°°•••°°°•••

Once he had gotten to class, Murdoc had left almost immediately. He hadn't forgotten to say goodbye, of course, but he didn't stay long either. Stuart felt it could be his fault that he had left in a hurry and told himself he had done wrong by scolding him over something like a kiss. It was hypocritical for him to say it was wrong to do that if he himself had enjoyed it.

In any case, he was gone now and Stuart could only wait until he saw him again to tell him it hadn't been his fault.

The day had passed rather quickly, at least the first four classes had. They seemed to have lasted half of their usual length. Stuart decided to pay no mind to it and went to the library when his free period came around.

He eagerly walked into the large room, holding his journals at his chest as he did.

If he was being honest, Stuart subconsciously hoped he'd find Murdoc there.

When he walked to the tables, he was rather surprised to see there was someone there. It wasn't Murdoc, but instead Russel.

He was just about to greet him as usual when he remembered the events during the weekend. Stuart still didn't know if Russel had really seen them together. If he had, he couldn't just casually walk up to him as if he hadn't been on a date with the same guy Russel had told him not to get close to.

Stuart though about it and decided he'd greet him either way. Russel was his friend and he had been for many years, he couldn't let a small argument destroy all that. He walked over to him and waved at him.

"Hey!", Stuart greeted as he sat across from him, "How was your weekend?"

Russel looked up from his notes and tapped his chin with the end of the pencil. "It was alright. Nothing much happened."

Stuart opened up his backpack to take out his own notes. The bigger tests of the year had already passed, but he still liked refreshing his memory to keep him from forgetting everything.

Although he was already relatively bright, Stuart was very forgetful and often forgot simple things like his own phone number or home address.

"That was a pretty bad storm a few days ago, wasn't it?", Stuart asked.

"Yeah," Russel answered as he went back to his notes.

Stuart took a moment to appreciate the fact that Russel hadn't brought up anything about the date. Maybe he hadn't seen them together.

He continued to review his notes and scribbled down several reminders next to particularly complex paragraphs. Stuart wasn't very good with understanding big words sometimes.

"Hey, Stuart," Russel called.

He looked up at him with a friendly smile.

"You know, if there's ever something I have to know, you can tell me, right?"

Stuart gulped. Had he seen them? What if he had? What would he tell him? How could he explain it?

"Y-Yeah, I know..."

Russel nodded and focused on his notes again. Stuart wasn't able to focus on his notes again. He stayed staring off in shock, worrying about Russel knowing something.

Just as he was dreading the worst, it really happened.

"I don't want you to worry, but I wanted to bring up something that happened during the weekend."

Stuart felt himself panicking quickly. He had seen them, he had definitely seen them and now he was going to have to explain everything to him. He couldn't even think of the right words to start his explanation. What Stuart was most afraid of was that he'd end up talking more than he should and tell Russel about how they shared a bed.

"I know this is a bit personal, but I saw you during the weekend at a seafood restaurant, right?", Russel asked.

Stuart nodded slowly, getting more nervous by the second.

"Well, I'm sure you noticed I was with someone, right? You saw?"

Stuart felt a bit confused, but didn't let his guard down. Why was he asking about that of all the things that he had seen?

"I'm also sure you saw it was Noodle, correct?", he asked as he lowered his tone.

Stuart nodded again, still too afraid to even open his mouth to talk.

"That's what I want to talk to you about. I don't want you to think that this means I see you as any less of a friend, because I don't. However, I also hope you understand that I'm not going to be as available now, considering the given...circumstances."

Stuart was puzzled to say the least. What was he talking about and why was he bringing up Noodle out of a sudden?

"What are you...talking about?", Stuart asked.

Russel seemed to be taken aback by his question. "What do you mean?"

"What are you talking about? Why could I possibly be less than a friend? And why does Noodle have anything to do with this?", Stuart questioned.

"Well, you know...You saw me hanging out with Noodle there," Russel said, "Well, not like that!"

Stuart raised a brow. "Aren't you asking about why I was with Murdoc?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I don't mind too much if you're doing that. I figured you guys would somehow end up being friends again" Russel said.

"Right," Stuart mumbled, "Friends..."

Stuart couldn't help it. He felt it was wrong for him to keep this from one of his closest friends, it wasn't very trustworthy of him to not tell Russel that type of thing.

"I have to tell you something too," Stuart said, "You have to promise not to get angry though, okay?"

Russel furrowed his eyebrows and got closer. "What is it?"

"You have to promise first!", Stuart said.

"Okay, okay, I promise," Russel muttered.

Stuart took a deep breath and tried finding where to start. "I have to tell you that I'm kind of...not just friends with Murdoc..."

Russel was confused for a bit but then seemed to have understood what he meant. "Oh. Wait, you're...?"

Stuart looked at him silently, only hoping for the best as he waited.

"You like...guys?"

Stuart was surprised to hear that was what Russel thought to be more shocking. He had never really thought about it like that, either. Stuart just supposed that meant he did like guys. It's not like he had ever stopped and really thought about everything involved with their relationship.

"I guess," Stuart muttered.

"Is that why you didn't want to date Paula?", he asked.

Stuart figured he'd make things easier for himself and agreed. He was really confused now that Russel asked all these questions. Was that really why he hadn't been as comfortable with Paula? It's not like he had felt that way with other boys before, he usually saw them just as people. The only difference in his eyes was that it was harder to talk to girls than it was with most guys.

"Oh, Stuart, I'm so sorry for that, then. I didn't mean to pressure you into doing something you really didn't want to. I guess I never thought you'd prefer boys," Russel said.

Stuart shrugged. "It's okay, I don't feel that it was your fault, you just didn't know."

Russel sighed. "Well, that's cleared out now. For how long? How long have you liked...you know? If I can ask."

Stuart took a moment to think about it. He assumed he started liking guys when he met Murdoc, that's when he really started liking anyone. At least liking them in that way.

"Well, it feels like it was quite a while since it started..."

Russel simply nodded and looked down. He seemed pretty shocked by everything.

"I hope this doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?", Stuart asked, lacing his fingers.

"Oh, it's okay. You don't have to worry about me, I'd be more worried about your parents. They know, right?", he asked.

Stuart glanced around the room. "Uhh..."

"Stuart?", he asked, "You did tell them already, right?"

"Well...I'm planning on it..."

Russel facepalmed and sighed. "Why didn't you tell them sooner if it's been this long?"

"I'm scared of telling them! What would I do if they didn't agree with me? If they disowned me? What would I do?"

"They're not going to disown you because you're interested in men, Stu. They'll be a bit shocked at first, I'm sure, but they'd understand with time," he said.

Stuart sighed. "It's easy for you to say..."

He looked down at his notes, hoping to find courage or words of advice somewhere in his notes. But then again, notes on the organelles of a cell aren't always the best at taking someone out of stressing situations.

°°°•••°°°•••

Once his writing class arrived, Stuart was more than happy to see Murdoc again. He walked into the class and looked around to find the older boy.

Sure enough, he was sitting in his usual seat. Stuart waved at him and mouthed "Hello!".

Murdoc smiled at him and waved back. Stuart took a seat and began taking out his journals. They hardly ever did anything in writing class now that the end of the year was near. Most of the time, the teachers would play movies or let the kids do whatever they wanted now that the students showed even less enthusiasm for learning. Some had even stopped just going to school altogether.

This was clearly not the case for Stuart, who would gladly come to school even during the break as long as he could get to see Murdoc.

Students had stopped sitting in their assigned seats and would just move around and sit with their friends now that the teacher seemed to care about class as much as the students. Stuart still preferred to stay seated where he was supposed to since it was just more comfortable staying in his usual desk. It was nice staying where he was, there was hardly any noise and kids around him often just left him to his own devices.

Stuart opened up his journals and began reading through his notes, only half-focused now that the class seemed to be growing in volume. He tried paying no mind to them, but the laughter and the shouting was hard to drown out when it seemed to be all around him. It was more like if his own thoughts were being muffled by the talking going on in the already full classroom.

Stuart decided he'd give up on trying and instead put his journals away. He'd find something else to do for the rest of the hour. He looked through his backpack in hopes of finding something that could distract him for a minimum of fifteen minutes.

As he was looking, Stuart found his phone at the bottom of the backpack. He took it out and figured he'd just find something to do there. The Internet had lots to offer, there had to be something that could get him hooked.

He turned it on and saw he had no notifications from anything. Stuart wasn't surprised since he was hardly involved in anything on his phone. He really only used it to check the time, call his mom or read webcomics.

It was then that he remembered his mother and what Russel had told him during their free period. He'd have to tell her eventually that he wasn't into girls. Stuart had to admit, he was pretty scared of knowing what she would react like. It didn't seem like her to get angry about something like that, but it was very big news and reactions always varied. It was more his father that he was worried about.

Stuart told himself that if his mother was okay with his confession, she'd have to persuade his father into agreeing with her. It wasn't as if he had just decided to like boys, it just happened on its own. It all really did come down to emotions.

He had considered telling her through text now that he had his phone out, but he decided that doing something like that was better off in person. Doing it by text just didn't seem as genuine. Instead, Stuart just texted her that he had something important to tell her after school.

Feeling awfully worried, Stuart sent the message and hoped for the best. He had to prepare himself emotionally for when he told her later that day. All sorts of panicked thoughts flooded his mind almost instantly as he wondered if she'd really still accept him for him. It was a motherly instinct to just love your kid no matter how they felt or who they liked, right?

He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down with false thoughts of confidence.

°°°•••°°°•••

When the bell finally rang, Stuart got out of his seat quickly and tried getting out of the room as soon as possible. The sooner he could get there, the more time he'd get to really think about what he'd say at home.

As he was heading out, Stuart heard Murdoc call him from behind. He turned and saw he was walking towards him from the large wave of students exiting their classes. When he eventually caught up to him, he waited for most of the students to move on so there'd be more silence in which they could talk.

The crowd eventually broke up and there was a large decrease in the volume.

"Why are you going home in such a rush?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart sighed and looked down. "I think...I think I'm going to tell my parents today..."

He stayed silent for a few seconds. "About...about what?"

"Well, that I like boys, for one thing," Stuart mumbled.

"That's it?", he asked, "I mean, will you tell them we're...you know?"

Stuart shrugged. "I don't think I will. Not yet, at least. Eventually, I'll have to tell them but I just want to take things slowly. I don't want them to have a heart attack."

Murdoc nodded and kept walking with him. "If anything happens, you can just call me, okay?"

Stuart smiled and agreed to that. He didn't assume things could go so bad that he'd have to leave his house or something like that, but it was still a comforting idea that Murdoc was willing to support him if it did happen.

Murdoc ended up walking him a few blocks to his house, just enough for him to give Stuart a boost of confidence through motivational talking. He had told him that there was no way parents could neglect their child for a long time. They'd be startled at first, to say the least, but they'd grow to accept it and love him the way he was. Stuart felt relief just hearing someone else comforting him. Something about only having yourself for encouragement just didn't fulfill the support others could offer.

When they were at the corner of Stuart's street, Murdoc decided he'd go back. He couldn't walk Stuart all the way to his house since it'd raise suspicions about who he was seeing at the moment, something the younger boy had been clear on not wanting to tell yet.

"Well, I'll tell you how it goes once it's over with," Stuart said.

"Alright," Murdoc said, "Don't forget to do it, though. And if anything - anything at all - goes wrong, don't hesitate to call me."

Stuart nodded and smiled at him. "I'm sure it'll be okay."

Murdoc sighed and patted Stuart's back. "See you then."

He waved at him and began walking back home. Stuart could only hope that he was right and that things would go well for him. The fear of being rejected by his own family made his heart heavy and his whole body tremble. For the first time in all the winter, Stuart was sure he wasn't trembling because of the cold.

It would be alright. He told himself this as each step brought him closer and closer to his house and the imminent conversation.

Stuart found himself walking up to the front door. This was it. This was his one and only chance at turning back and giving up. With a deep breath, Stuart put his hand at the doorknob and turned it slowly.

°°°•••°°°•••

When he had entered, he saw - unsurprisingly - his mother hadn't arrived yet. The whole house was empty again, only the humming of the heating systems filled the air. He put his backpack on one of the living room couches and made his way to his room to get changed. The silence in the house seemed to be suffocating him.

Stuart changed into his baggy clothes and went back to the living room. He opened up his backpack and took out his phone, a journal and a pen.

He had decided he'd write down ways in which he could tell his mother the news. Stuart knew he wouldn't be able to word it correctly if he didn't try and plan it out before he said it. He sat at the kitchen table and thought of what to write down.

Stuart knew he'd have to tell her slowly, not just go straight to it and risk her fainting right in front of him. He'd first have to set the mood and prepare her for such a big reveal. He knew he shouldn't expect parents to take this sort of thing so light-heartedly, so he'd be careful with how he said everything.

He began jotting down several ideas and conversation starters. He wasn't the best when it came to talking about serious topics, so he'd have to trust his wit and plan everything out with care.

When he had written down a decent amount of notes, Stuart heard the front door opening from outside. He closed his journal and stood up as soon as he heard it. Was his mother already home? He hadn't even bothered to check the time, so it was most likely that it was. He rushed to the living room and took a seat on one of the couches.

His mother opened the door and she looked at him as soon as she did.

"Oh, honey, I got your text. If you could just give me a moment to get ready, I'll hear you out in a moment," she said as she walked into her room.

Stuart fidgeted with his fingers and felt his heart racing. The anxiety he was getting just now was seriously out of control. After a few minutes of waiting, he heard his mother leave the room and walk through the hall.

"What did you want to tell me?", she asked.

"Um...if you could sit down first, I'd...prefer that...", Stuart mumbled.

She walked into the living room and sat down, looking a bit more concerned. "What is it? Is it someone bothering you in school?"

Stuart shook his head and looked down. He took a deep breath and raised his head.

"I...I think that I'm..."

He hadn't even felt it before, but his eyes were beginning to tear up. He didn't feel sad, so he figured it was the fear of speaking up. Only now he realized that he had planned everything and hadn't even used his own advice.

Stuart cleared his throat and continued. "I...I like boys..."

His mother widened her eyes when he said it. She then seemed to be worried for him and leaned in for a hug. Stuart didn't move away and let his tears continue to stream down his face.

"It's okay, sweetie. Don't cry, I know it's not easy," she said silently.

Stuart felt an odd mixture between sadness and relief in his heart. He wasn't sure where the sadness was coming from, he should've been happy. Not everyone was nearly as lucky as he was at being accepted by his parents that way.

After several moments of just his mother holding him, she eventually let go of him and wiped away some of her own tears.

"How did you know?", she asked.

Stuart sniffed and rubbed his eyes. "It's been a while now," he mumbled.

She sighed and gave him a bleak smile. "Don't think I see you as less now," she said, "I don't want you to think I don't agree with your choice."

Stuart nodded and looked down.

The suffocating feeling in the air had somehow been replaced with a fresh and relaxing ambiance.

°°°•••°°°•••

After all that, Stuart had gone back into his room and relaxed there for the rest of the day. He hadn't forgotten that he still needed to call Murdoc, but he decided he'd wait until his father came home to call him. Then, Stuart would be able to tell him about both of his parents' reactions.

It didn't take long for his father to arrive. When he did, Stuart heard his mother call him over. Stuart walked to the door and leaned against it. He pressed his ear against the door and hoped he'd pick up some of their conversation.

There was only low muttering after that, just loud enough for Stuart to hear it but quiet enough so he couldn't understand it. There hadn't been any arguments or an increase in their volume. Stuart took this as a good sign.

Once their conversation seemed to have finished, Stuart heard footsteps walking up to his room. He scrambled up to his bed and pretended he hadn't been eavesdropping just now.

His mother stepped in and she walked over to him. Stuart pretended to not be dying of curiosity as to what he thought.

"I talked with your father about it and he said that he is okay with it too," she said. He sighed in relief and put his hands to his face.

"However, he made it clear that he wants you to really try and take this seriously. He wants you to really make sure you know what you want. Also, he says no dating or anything like that until you're really certain."

Stuart felt pressure being removed from his chest. He nodded and agreed to his mother and father's conditions. She smiled at him one last time and walked out of the room.

As soon as she left, Stuart took out his phone and began calling Murdoc. He waited anxiously for a few moments for him to answer.

_"Hello?"_

"It's me, Stuart," he said.

_"Oh, right, how'd it go? What did they tell you?"_

Stuart sighed in relief. "They were both okay with it, but my dad said it's only okay as long as I don't date anyone until I'm really certain."

He heard Murdoc chuckle from the other end. _"Well, it's a bit late for that now, isn't it?"_

Stuart couldn't help but to laugh with him. He was sure he had only laughed because of how nervous yet happy he felt.

"Anyway, I better get going now. They might hear me talking with you and get suspicious."

_"Alright, see you tomorrow then. Good night."_

"Y-You too," Stuart said. He hung up and put his phone away. It had all gone a lot better than expected.

Stuart laid in his bed and felt butterflies in his stomach. This was what all those romantic movies his mother watched always talked about. This was what it felt like to love and be loved. It felt nice.

He fixed himself under his blankets and curled up into a little ball. His room was still cold despite the heating systems being turned on and it didn't help that the only air vent in his room was the smallest one in the whole house.

Either way, Stuart used the warmth of his heart to keep him warm. When he closed his eyes, he saw everything that had happened throughout the day. Being wrong in situations like this were always more than satisfying.

After keeping his eyes closed for so long, everything went dark and he slipped into a deep and wonderful sleep.

°°°•••°°°•••

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I split the last chapter in half since it was getting way too long, so there'll be 17 chapters in total. Also I'm thinking of starting a horror-themed fic with this couple because a I love them so much ^o^
> 
> Tell me if that sort of thing would interest you or if it wouldn't. Thanks in advance! :-)


	16. Chapter 16

It was almost hard to believe.

He had spent an entire month and six days with Murdoc now. All of November had passed through them seemingly in slow motion and December was beginning to crawl up from behind them. They had still not done a lot of progress when it came to getting intimate, but Stuart had become more comfortable with kisses on the cheek or hugs. Either way, a whole month had finally been completed and a second one was soon going to be completed.

Stuart still hadn't told his parents about him dating Murdoc, all they knew was that he was still "testing the waters" when it came to relationships. His parents hadn't brought up any questions or concerns over him possibly dating someone in secret, for which Stuart was thankful. He wouldn't know how to react if they did mention it.

Luckily, his parents had also decided to keep it a secret that he didn't like girls. The neighbors never found out about his big announcement because his mother thought that "their lives were no form of entertainment for nosy people". She had a point and Stuart was quick to agree with her. He didn't want to get stared down by curious neighbors every time he walked to school.

Russel also seemed to have become more comfortable with the idea of Stuart dating Murdoc. He still didn't fully trust the older boy, but he respected Stuart's final choice either way. Still, Russel didn't waste any opportunities to insult Murdoc, but he never left without getting one or two responses back from the other. Stuart still had to break up some arguments when they seemed to be taking a turn for the worst, though.

There were times in which Stuart took a moment to let everything sink in. He was finally with the only person who made him feel so many great things with no one to really bother them. Of course, there was his family, but they were easy to avoid majority of the time. It was what could happen during their break that worried Stuart. He didn't know if he'd be able to keep contact with Murdoc the entire three months they'd be separated. Of course, Stuart could call him and text him, but he wouldn't be able to hold his hand or feel his fingers running through his messy blue hair.

They hadn't come to any agreement of sorts in which they could meet up every now and then once school was out. Stuart knew he'd need to ask Murdoc about it sometime soon. They could find a schedule that worked for both of them and agree to meet up certain days at certain times. It sounded simple, it really wasn't. 

The day Stuart asked about it, Murdoc was just as perplexed.

"I never really thought about it," he said.

Stuart sighed. "Can't we make a plan of sorts? Maybe an agenda?"

"We could do that," Murdoc said, "but I don't know if it'd make your parents worry about it."

He was right. If Stuart just randomly disappeared every now and then during his break, his parents were bound to ask questions. Stuart tapped his fingers on the table and thought of what he could tell them.

"I could just say I'm going to a club of sorts," Stuart suggested.

"No, I'm sure they'd think there's some adult in charge and they'd always ask about them," Murdoc answered.

Stuart lowered his head and kept thinking. He couldn't say he was hanging out with other friends such as Russel or Noodle because his mother would try to contact them, ending with him being caught somewhere else. 

He sighed. "Dating's harder than I thought..."

Murdoc nodded in agreement. "Well, at least the holidays are coming up! We get to stay together for a few more days and then we start our break. It's a shame Christmas will be over the break, though."

"Yeah, we can't even celebrate that together," Stuart pouted.

They stayed there, thinking of ways in which they could meet up without his parents finding out they were together. It was hard to leave your house all the time and hope that no one would think there's something else going on too.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next couple of weeks had been pretty uneventful, at least in school. There were really no remaining assignments for the students, so teachers would often let them do as they pleased for the last few days. Some had stopped going to school altogether at one point, which meant quieter classrooms and emptier hallways.

This was pretty convinient for Stuart since he wouldn't have to keep his relationship with Murdoc so much of a secret. Unfortunately, Noodle had taken off during the current week to go back to Japan. She would spend her whole break back home with her family, but she promised to keep in contact with both Stuart and Russel. She did say she could come back for the next year though, which they both looked forward to.

Apart from meeting up with Murdoc for most of the school day, Stuart also began planning out several intricate ideas regarding their secret escapes over the long break. He hadn't come up with much, but he had enough that he could work with. Luckily, things seemed as if they would roll smoothly at least for the start of the break.

One of the problems was that Stuart’s family always went on some sort of vacation during the holidays, it was just traditional at that point. Stuart saw this as a chance to meet up with Murdoc while everyone was too busy preparing their travels. This would, of course, become a burden for the two, however. If Stuart went on vacation, Murdoc wouldn't be able to see him for a whole month of the break. That was where Stuart's plan kicked in.

He'd tell his parents that he wasn't really looking forward to the vacation and that he'd prefer to have some time alone with himself. His parents, as trusting and caring as they always were, would have to let him stay home for the break. After all, Stuart was still almost an adult and he'd eventually have to learn to fend for himself. This month-long break would be a prefect chance for this practice.

Now, Murdoc didn't really think Stuart would get permission to stay home for a whole month, but he heard the younger boy out until he was through with explaining his plan. There was always the chance that it really could work. If Stuart was convincing enough, his parents would have to accept and let him stay back. Stuart wasn't the best at convincing people, which is where Murdoc helped him.

"You just have to use that brain of yours to come up with clever arguments while you convince them," he said.

"I'm not very good at being quick-witted," Stuart mumbled," I think I'm better off when I have time to plan things out."

Murdoc sighed. "That's the problem, you won't have so much time to plan every bit of your argument. Sometimes you have to adjust to the flow of things and work with what you've got."

They had been talking over this the last few days, it was just Murdoc trying to boost Stuart’s confidence in himself. He hadn't had much progress in the little bit of time they had, but he tried hard to encourage the other that he could really convince his parents if he thought about it.

If their plan really managed to work, he'd be more than surprised. It was a rather unstable plan in general, but he knew he'd have to work with it. Murdoc really did want to get a chance to see Stuart during their break and if having such a fragile plan to get off the ground was what it took, then he was willing to try his best.

°°°•••°°°•••

When the final week of school arrived, they both had moved forward in their plan via texts from home or small meetings during class. They had a much better outcome than Murdoc had initially thought, but he still wasn't sure if it'd be parent-proof. If this didn't work, they'd have no more time to plan anything else and there was only so much they could do through messaging each other.

Stuart had decided he'd bring up the argument at the start of the last week of school to give his parents more time to think about it. He was really hoping it'd work after all the effort and confidence he'd acquired the last week or two.

When Monday came to an end, Stuart said his goodbyes to Murdoc and promised to update him on the situation once he had told his parents.

Stuart got home and found his parents were both already home. His mother was on the phone with who he could only assume was one of his relatives they'd visit over their vacation. He waited until she noticed him and sat across from her on the kitchen table.

"Anyway, see you in a few days!", she said as she began hanging up. She ended the call and looked up at Stuart.

"What is it?", she asked.

"It's about the vacation...", Stuart started.

"Oh, are you excited for that? I'm sure you're going to love seeing all the new stuff, it'll be great," she smiled.

"Yeah, about that," Stuart mumbled, "I don't know if I want to go this year..."

She raised a brow and stared at him as if he was crazy. "You don't want to go?"

He shook his head and frowned. "I'm just not as interested this time..."

"But it's all you talk about for previous years. Are you sure you want to miss out?"

"It's just been really hard to...balance my emotions right now," Stuart muttered, "You know, I need to sort of find myself right now. Besides, our curious relatives can sometimes be a little intrusive with things like my medical conditions right now."

She sighed. "Well, who would you stay with if I didn't take you? We could leave you with your aunt in the next city over."

Stuart gulped. He was never one for disliking family members, but his aunt was the only exception. She was always so close-minded of everything and critiqued him for his hair color during his last visit, as if he had chosen for it to be that color. She had only moved in two years ago, so he hadn't gotten around seeing her too much. Just the thought of having to stay in the same house as that woman for a whole month made his head hurt.

"I was thinking that maybe I could stay home," Stuart said.

His mother scoffed and then began to laugh. "How could I leave you alone for a whole month? There'd be no one to care for you or enough food to last you!"

"I can just buy my own food, I'm not a little kid anymore," Stuart responded.

His father walked in and tuned into the conversation. He looked at both of them. "What are we talking about?"

"Your son wants to stay home for our vacation on his own," she explained.

"What's wrong with that?", he asked.

She widened her eyes but glared at him when she processed everything. "What's wrong with that? Well, only everything! He's too young to stay alone and he's not even an adult yet!"

His father cleared his throat and straightened his back. "Let's not forget that at Stuart's age, I had already moved out of my parents' home. It's only natural for the boy to want some experience for the real world!"

"But he's still too young to stay alone for a whole month! Who's gonna take care of him? How will he feed himself?!", she cried.

"I'm sure he can handle it, right?", he said as he looked at Stuart. Stuart nodded quickly and smiled.

"You see? He wants to be mature and take care of himself. Stuart's a responsible kid, he'll know what he's doing," he finished.

His mother could've exploded from frustration right then and there but she collected herself and took a deep breath.

"Stuart, are you absolutely certain that you're okay with staying home? Do you promise me you will have the utmost responsibility for this whole month?", she asked.

Stuart nodded, hoping he'd found a way to convince them.

"Then I guess we have a deal. You can stay home, _but_ there will be rules."

He held back from cheering and waited for her to finish.

"You can't let any strangers into the house for any reason. You also can't leave the house for longer than half a day unattended, you hear me? Oh! And absolutely never forget to turn off the oven if you ever plan on leaving for a while, got it?"

Stuart agreed to everything and awaited for her final statement.

"I only do this because you're as responsible as you are, okay? You have to show me how responsible you really are as a young man," she finished.

"I promise I'll do my best," he said.

He couldn't help but feel excitement rush through him. He had confidence in his own skills and managed to get his plan to work because of it. He couldn't wait to tell Murdoc all about it.

°°°•••°°°•••

"And so they let me be in charge of the house," Stuart finished.

_"Wow, I really didn't think that would work."_

Stuart laughed a little. "I didn't either. Not so much, at least."

_"So, when are they leaving?"_

He tried remembering when they said they'd be gone. "I think it'll be a week or two from now."

_"Then I can start going over as soon as school gets out?"_

Stuart was about to agree with him when he remembered his parents' rule. He couldn't bring home any strangers. Well, it wasn't as if Murdoc was a stranger in the first place. His mother had heard of him enough to know he wasn't a bad kid. But then again, he had never invited him into the house, only to come and pick him up to go somewhere.

"Actually, they told me I couldn't invite strangers over to the house..."

_"What? I'm don't qualify as a stranger, right? I'd get permission to go, I'm sure."_

"I don't know, they're pretty strict with visits..."

_"Well, we'll have to wait until they're gone for me to go over, I guess."_

Stuart sighed. He was already breaking a rule and his parents hadn't even left the house yet.

This was sure to be an interesting few weeks.

°°°•••°°°•••

In reality, those weeks weren't really interesting. Most of it was just his mom teaching him how to use objects around the house and reminding him of how he'd have to miss out on the funnest parts of vacation. Stuart tried not paying so much attention to all the fun Christmas-themed activities she said they'd be doing. They were all very tempting ideas, but he knew he couldn't leave Murdoc alone for the entire month, especially now that things were going so well between them.

The last few school days were pretty uneventful as well and they both decided not to go the last two days since they'd still see each other in less than a week from then.

When school was finally out, Stuart had already started his break. His parents were already preparing to leave town and visit their vacation home that he had discovered was going to be in Austria. They'd gone there a few years ago and he had really enjoyed going, so it hurt him a little that he'd have to miss it until next year or whenever they went again.

His parents left for their travels the twenty-second of December, exactly one week after the last day of school. His mother had nearly broken into tears before she had to drive off to the airport. She said her goodbyes several hundreds of times and hugged him tightly before she ultimately had to leave. It was all rather uncomfortable, but Stuart didn't mention anything about it to her.

Once they had left, it was already nighttime, so he decided he'd tell Murdoc the next day. He could call him and notify him about how his parents were gone and ask about when he'd be able to finally come over. Stuart was nervous to say the least about someone coming over. He got embarrassed just visiting relatives, so it was most worrisome when he had to be the one inviting people, let alone those who weren't family members.

He wasn't really sure what he could plan for them to do, there was only so much to do around his house. They could watch movies or Stuart could give Murdoc a small tour around his house. It'd be fun to describe everything around his house to him, especially all the stuff he had in his room. He mostly looked forward to showing off all the small plushies collection.

For now, however, Stuart needed to get sleep. If he wanted to be up and about when Murdoc came to visit, he needed to be well-energized and ready. He didn't want to fall asleep while he talked to his first ever visitor of his house, especially if it was someone as important as Murdoc.

Stuart turned off all the lights in his house and headed for bed. He'd make sure to wake up early the next day and prepare everything to clean around the house, so he set an alarm for seven in the morning. He had learned that first impressions were always important.

With that, Stuart shut his eyes and fell asleep as soon as he had gotten comfortable.

°°°•••°°°•••

The next morning, Stuart woke up from a long and restful sleep. He wiped off some saliva from his chin and scratched the back of his head. He didn't even remember what he had been dreaming.

Stuart reached for his phone form his bedside table to check the time. The sky seemed to be brighter, so maybe he had accidentally fallen asleep through his alarm.

He gasped when he saw it was already eleven in the morning. He had slept through his alarm for four hours!

Stuart hurried out of bed and went to the kitchen. Nothing seemed out of place or out of the ordinary, so he hurried off to continue getting ready.

He washed his face and changed into clean clothes. As soon as he was ready, he called Murdoc on his phone.

He waited for him to answer impatiently.

_"Hello?"_

"My parents left yesterday," Stuart said, "They left me in charge of the house!"

_"That's great! Um, I'm kind of busy right now, so if you could call me back in...maybe two hours, that'd be good."_

Stuart frowned and stayed silent for a while. "Okay...I'll call you later."

_"Alright, see you, love."_

There was a beep after that and the call ended. Stuart put his phone down and sighed. What could be so important that he had to put Stuart second?

He decided not to let it get to him and instead took this time to plan what they'd do. Stuart was about to enter his room when he heard his stomach growling. Maybe it was better to get a snack first.

°°°•••°°°•••

Stuart had finished looking for food in his fridge and eating the sandwich he had made. He had finished listing ideas for activities they could do once Murdoc came to visit. He had finished looking through his phone for messages or notifications and found nothing. The two hours had come and gone past him and he didn't hear anything from Murdoc. He tried calling after the two hours but the other didn't answer.

Stuart was beginning to get worried. What was he doing? He didn't understand why he had just left so abruptly after they had just been talking days ago. He didn't want to imagine anything bad had happened to him, but it seemed impossible to not. Stuart had even called multiple times just to try and reach him, but there was nothing.

He began thinking that if he did this too much, he could come off as clingy or attention-seeking. If Stuart didn't stop soon, he'd probably be problematic to Murdoc and he didn't want that.

He decided he'd wait a while longer. There was always the chance that Murdoc was really just busy. Maybe he had miscalculated how long he'd stay busy and forgot to tell Stuart.

That had to be it.

°°°•••°°°•••

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you'd be interested in a horror themed fic with this couple, remember to tell me! I've got a few ideas and I want to start on time for the month of October, the spooky month! :-)


	17. Chapter 17

The whole day had passed him by and he hadn't heard anything from Murdoc the entire time. Stuart had ended up playing the radio all afternoon on the Christmas station. The station played old holiday songs without interruptions or advertisements. 

Stuart checked the time and saw it was nearly time for his usual bedtime. He already felt tired, but he tried staying awake long enough to see if Murdoc would call him or tell him where he was.

But with the soothing sound of the songs, Stuart fell asleep on his couch, worried to a point of sleepiness.

°°°•••°°°•••

He woke up the next morning, still with no answer from Murdoc.

It was still early in the morning, only half past seven. That could explain why he still had no answer.

Stuart began worrying again and thought of what could possibly have happened to him. Maybe he had gotten hurt or maybe he was lost. Stuart stressed over just the idea of him never getting to see Murdoc again.

He got up from the couch and went to the bathroom so he could wash his face. If he had to, he'd go out and look for Murdoc himself.

He didn't know where the other boy lived, but he figured it couldn't be too far. If he went to the same school, that meant he had to live somewhere near the building. Stuart wiped the water off his face and went back into the kitchen. He still needed to have breakfast.

°°°•••°°°•••

After many hours of convincing himself, Stuart decided he'd really leave his house and look for the older boy. He was scared of going out in the cold with no one else, but it was a risk he was willing to take. If he had to go look for him in the big outdoors, he would do it.

Stuart went into his room to change into warmer clothes. The weather was still crazy cold, so he needed to bring plenty of clothes. He had put some of his warmer jackets into the washing machine, so he'd have to suit himself to long sleeve shirts and his only clean jacket.

He still hadn't even put on his contacts yet, but he decided it'd wait until he was done changing. It wasn't as if he needed to wear them every minute of his life. It wasn't healthy to do that, either.

Stuart began taking off his shirt to change into a turtleneck shirt when he heard a knock at the front door. He had no idea of who it could be or what to do in these sort of situations. His mother had only told him to open it if it were someone he knew or if it was a neighbor offering help, but he was much too nervous to socialize with anyone from his neighborhood. Stuart walked slowly to the living room, fitting himself back into his oversized shirt.

As he was reaching the door, there was another knock which startled Stuart. He peeked through the window to see if it was someone he knew, but he couldn't get a good view of who it was. He took a deep breath and opened up the door slowly.

After the suspenseful moments of cracking open the door slowly, there was enough space to see who it was.

"Hey, Stu."

"Murdoc?!", Stuart cried. He widened the door to see him better.

"Sorry I didn't call you back yesterday, I left my phone at the doctor's office," he said.

Doctor's office? Why was he in a doctor's office? He began thinking that maybe he really had gotten hurt.

"W-Why were you in the doctor's? Did you get hurt?!", Stuart asked as he got closer to him.

"No, no, I'm fine, I just wanted to get checked for something," he explained, "Anyway, I lost my phone so I won't be able to call you anymore. Not until I get a new phone."

Stuart sighed, both in relief and a bit of disappointment. They were back on square one when it came to communication, but he was glad Murdoc was okay. That was what really mattered.

"Well, do you wanna come in?", Stuart asked sheepishly.

"It's pretty cold out, so yeah," Murdoc said. He stepped in and Stuart closed the door behind him. He put the lock on the door and made sure it wasn't able to be opened, he didn't want any real strangers entering.

"Wow, you have a pretty big living room," Murdoc said as he observed the room.

Stuart turned his attention back to the other boy and looked around.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't get time to clean up earlier," Stuart mumbled. He quickly began gathering several sheets of paper and journals from the coffee table at the center of the living room.

Murdoc watched him as he cleaned everything from the table. It wasn't really that messy, but he didn't mention it.

Only now he realized that Stuart wasn't wearing his contacts. It was better if he didn't, Murdoc didn't want his eyes to become irritated.

"There, I think that's a little better," Stuart said.

"So, what do you want to do now?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart tapped his chin and tried remembering what he had planned. "Ah! Yes, I was wondering if-if you'd like a tour of my house or something like that..."

Murdoc nodded and found it endearing that he was so excited to show him everything in his house.

"Okay, well, this is the living room, clearly. Over there is the kitchen," he said.

"If you go this way," Stuart muttered as he began walking to the hall, "You'll see all the rooms and stuff. We have three rooms, the one my parents share, my room and a guest room."

"I can't really go into my parents' room, so I can only show you around my room around the guest room. Do you want to see my room?"

"Sure," Murdoc said as he followed the younger boy into the hall.

"I'm...not sure if I cleaned very well, but it should be pretty tidy," Stuart said.

He opened the door to his room at the end of the hallway and let Murdoc in.

Stuart's room was extremely big, especially his bed which took up a lot of the space. There were many large pillows placed all over the bed in a symmetrical order.

He had a desk near his bed and a window on the other side. The curtains on the window filtered the light to look more pink than anything else. The carpet floor was surprisingly clean and there was no trace of trash, which was kept in a small plastic bin near the door.

"I have my plushie collection here," Stuart said as he walked over to his desk.

Murdoc saw all the small and brightly colored dolls lined up on the desk. He smiled at the designs and remembered the one Stuart had made for him. That one was there too, lined up at the center of them all.

"You have a really nice room," Murdoc said, "You must really like hanging out in here."

Stuart blushed at his comment and smiled. "Well, I guess I like my room, but it's not like it's the neatest or anything..."

He grinned at his reaction and continued to look around the room. There was so much to look at that he didn't even know where to start.

"Well, anyway, let's continue!", Stuart smiled.

°°°•••°°°•••

After doing his small tour, Stuart had invited Murdoc to eat something. He didn't want to be a burden at first and refused to his offer, but Stuart insisted on it and made him a simple sandwich. They ate together and talked about how the past week had been. They both had pretty uneventful beginnings to their breaks and didn't talk much about it.

Several hours after listening to the Christmas music station, the two found each other making small talk as the last bits of sunlight disappeared.

"Christmas is tomorrow, huh?", Murdoc muttered.

Stuart nodded. "Maybe you should come over tomorrow too! We can show each other what gifts we got!"

Murdoc snorted. "I haven't gotten Christmas gifts in years."

The younger boy frowned and scooted closer to him. "Why not?"

"The only one that ever got me something was my older brother, but that was when I was way younger. Since then, I've never gotten a thing."

Stuart felt his heart throbbing in sadness. How could someone go so many holidays without any gifts at all?

"Well, that's changing this year!", Stuart exclaimed, "I'm getting you something this Christmas and you can't stop me."

"You don't have to get me anything, don't worry. I'm fine, really," Murdoc said.

Stuart stood up. "It doesn't matter, I do this because I want to! Come!"

He pulled on Murdoc's hand and brought him up to his feet from the couch. From there, he took him into the hall in a rush. Murdoc was more than curious as to what he had planned. When he guided him to his room, Murdoc began getting strange - and rather inappropriate - suspicions. These suspicions only got worse when Stuart sat him down on his bed. What was he doing?

His creative ideas were cut short when Stuart began reaching for something in his closet.

"What are you doing?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart turned around, holding several boxes in his arms. He sat on the floor and tried opening them. He looked up at Murdoc and patted the space next to him.

"Come sit!"

Murdoc sighed but still went over to sit next to him. It was too much of a perfect chance anyway.

"Look, my parents got me these things and hid them before they left. Just yesterday they told me where they were," Stuart said.

Murdoc watched as he opened up the boxes in front of him. There were many gift boxes inside the larger cardboard boxes, all of which he assumed were expensive.

"Here," Stuart said as he pushed the boxes forward, "Pick one."

Murdoc looked back up at him and furrowed his eyebrows. "It's okay, I already said I don't want anything. Don't worry about it."

Stuart sighed but pushed the boxes closer. "Please just pick one."

He looked down and observed the boxes. They all seemed to be carrying something large, which made Murdoc nervous as to how much any of those could cost.

"I really can't accept any of these," Murdoc said.

Stuart pouted and glared at him. "Then pick something! Anything!"

Murdoc suddenly had his great idea. His great and awfully inappropriate idea. It couldn't be so bad, it was about time they had gotten to that point in their relationship.

"There is _one_ gift I'll take," Murdoc said.

"Really?", Stuart asked with a smile, "Which one? Anything is fine!"

Murdoc slowly pushed away the boxes and got closer to Stuart. "You'd make a pretty great Christmas gift."

Stuart's cheeks turned red and he scooted away. "Ah...I don't know if that counts..."

Murdoc kept getting closer, his attraction to the other boy only growing. "You said any gift was okay for me to keep..."

Stuart was now pressed against the closet door and Murdoc was only getting closer.

"We can't kiss in here!", Stuart urged silently.

He didn't pay any mind to what he was saying. Murdoc got even closer and was losing his mind over Stuart's sweet smell. He let himself be controlled by his desire and began placing small kisses on Stuart's neck.

Stuart let out a small gasp as soon as he had started. His neck was warm with all the blood that had gone up to his face and his pulse was racing.

"It's okay, no one can see us," Murdoc muttered.

Stuart let out a short whimper and began squirming under him. "Stop, w-we can't do this!"

Murdoc moved back and admired the mess he had made Stuart become.

"Do you really want to stop?", Murdoc asked, "I can if you want me to."

Stuart sighed and looked down. "I guess we can continue...b-but don't go so far!"

Murdoc was actually surprised to see that he had agreed. He really wanted to take that step? Murdoc didn't want to ask about it anyway, not now that he had such a great chance.

He helped Stuart get up and brought him to his bed. "How far do you want to go?"

The bluenette crossed his arms in front of him and thought about it. "I think you should just lead the way and I'll tell you when to stop..."

Murdoc agreed and sat next to him. He leaned in for another kiss and Stuart got closer too.

He felt himself beginning to lose control as he kissed his neck and pinned him down on the bed. Murdoc had gone beyond kisses and had started sucking on his soft skin, causing multiple moans to escape from Stuart.

"That...that feels good...", Stuart mumbled.

Murdoc took this as a sign to keep going and nibbled on his skin. Stuart flinched at the sudden stimulation but didn't say anything against it.

Just as Murdoc was about to move downwards, Stuart interrupted him when he cleared his throat.

"I feel kind of...weird...down there..."

Murdoc had nearly forgotten that this was all still Stuart's first time with anyone. He stopped for a bit and decided he'd ask about what he already knew.

"How much do you know about this?", he asked, "Just to make sure."

Stuart thought about it for a while. "Um...I know you can get pregnant..."

Murdoc sighed. "Well, I know, but what do you know about actually doing it?"

"Oh...um...not anything, really...", he mumbled.

"You never went to sexual education classes?", Murdoc asked, "Ever tried stuff with yourself?"

Stuart shook his head. "No, never."

"Come on, you've never watched that type of video with...you know..."

The younger boy seemed puzzled and waited for him to finish.

Murdoc probably should've taken into account that Stuart was, well, himself. He'd never do something like that.

"Nevermind, forget I said that."

The boy clearly had a lot to learn. Murdoc turned back at him and sat in front of him. "You first need to take your clothes off."

Stuart's eyes went wide and his face glowed even more. "I-In...in front of you?"

"It's okay, it was bound to happen. Don't be shy," he said.

Stuart sighed and began taking off his shirt. "Don't make me do it on my own...I don't want to be the only one not wearing clothes..."

"Right," Murdoc said. He did the same and took off his shirt.

Stuart continued to take off his pants and looked back up at Murdoc. "Do I take off my...my underwear?"

"Well, you can keep it on for now, if you want to," Murdoc said. Stuart nodded and put his legs up to his chest, hiding majority of his body.

He got back on the bed and caressed Stuart's face. "You don't have to worry, I'll be careful."

Stuart sighed and slowly unfolded his legs, revealing his flat stomach. All over his body he had bruises and cuts of all sorts, some of which he couldn't understand how he could've gotten.

"What's next?", Stuart asked.

Murdoc tried revising their situation. He had never been with another guy before, but he had heard of how it worked and knew most of the basics.

"I need you to open your legs for me," Murdoc said.

Stuart gulped and slowly opened up his legs. He trembled as he did, not really understanding where any of it was going.

Murdoc sat on the floor and placed Stuart on the edge of the bed. He fixed himself in between each one of his legs and looked up at Stuart from there.

"Wh-What are you doing?", he asked, "If I can...know."

"Just relax," Murdoc said, "I'll make it feel good for you."

He pulled down at Stuart's underwear, the other flinched at the sudden touch. When he kept pulling them down, Stuart put his hand at his crotch to hide it.

"D-Don't look..."

Murdoc slowly moved his hand away and saw he was already erect. He took him into his hand and placed his thumb on the tip. Stuart bucked his hips at the touch and whimpered.

"How does it feel?", Murdoc asked as he continued to stroke him.

"It's...it's really good..."

Murdoc continued to rub his tip, precum leaking out of him. 

He began stroking him and went faster as he heard Stuart moaning. All the sounds and movements he was making turned him on so much and he could barely hold back from touching himself some.

Once he had stroked him long enough, Murdoc took his cock into his mouth and looked up at Stuart as he gasped in pleasure.

Stuart soon covered his face in embarrassment and faced away from him.

Murdoc stopped for a moment and looked up at him. "Come on, I want you to see."

Stuart peeked through his fingers and sighed. He got his hand out of his face and glanced down as he bit his bottom lip.

When Murdoc continued, Stuart tightened his grip on the blankets and let out a shaky moan.

Murdoc kept on going until Stuart seemed to be losing his mind from the feelings.

"I feel...I feel like I'm gonna faint...", Stuart mumbled.

Murdoc stopped again and caught his breath for a moment.

"Do you want me to keep going on this or something else?", he asked.

Stuart glanced to the side and took a moment to think about it.

"There's more to it...?", he mumbled.

Murdoc sat up. "A lot."

He knew he couldn't go into Stuart with no lube or anything to prepare him before. He was sure Stuart didn't have any of that around his house, so they'd need to find something else.

"Do you have any... lotion or something?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart tried remembering if he had anything. "I think there's a bottle in my drawer..."

Murdoc reached for the drawer and looked through it quickly. He found the small bottle and opened the cap.

"What do you need that for?", Stuart asked.

He coated his fingers with the lotion and sat back where he was.

"This might hurt a little at first, but I promise it'll feel good later on."

With that, he slowly inserted one finger into Stuart, causing Stuart to sit up in surprise.

"W-What are you doing?!", he cried, "It's not s-sanitary to--"

Before he could even finish, Murdoc had found Stuart's prostate.

He let out a loud moan and arched his back. As soon as Murdoc had taken off the pressure, Stuart had gotten control of himself.

"What was that?", Stuart asked nervously.

"It felt good, right?", Murdoc muttered.

The younger boy nodded slowly. It hadn't hurt as much as Murdoc had said it would, he figured he could get used to the feeling. Stuart also thought it's be better to not ask so many questions. He didn't want to make things awkward.

When Stuart thought he had finally grown used to the feeling, Murdoc inserted a second finger, slowly and carefully.

"It...hurts a little," Stuart mumbled.

"Should I stop?", Murdoc asked him with worry.

"No, no! It...it still feels good...", he responded, "Keep going..."

He continued to slowly slide his fingers in and out of Stuart, earning several shaky breaths and sharp gasps. Watching as the boy became a mess right under his control was turning Murdoc on so much that he wasn't sure if either of them would last long now. Before he had even noticed, he had added a third finger.

Stuart seemed much too consumed in the pleasure to even bother noticing the pain. He was squirming in the bed with his face glowing red. Seeing him like that was almost unbelievable to Murdoc.

"I think you're ready now," Murdoc said as he stood up.

Stuart looked a bit upset about being so suddenly empty again. "For what..?"

"Can you spread your legs open some more?", he asked.

He hesitated but shifted his legs wider. "Can I ask why?"

Murdoc grabbed Stuart's legs and opened them the right amount. Stuart looked at him with a bit of shock but didn't say anything. He saw as Murdoc reached for the lotion again.

"You remember how I took so long to call you back? I was getting checked for any diseases or stuff like that, so I'm clean. This is your first time, so you probably don't have anything, right?"

Stuart nodded slowly. "I don't think I have anything...depends on what type of disease, though. I get checked a lot throughout the whole year, so I'd know if I had something..."

Murdoc held Stuart's legs up from his ankles and adjusted himself in between his legs. With that, he pushed into Stuart, slowly and carefully.

Stuart hissed in pain. Murdoc looked up at him to make sure he was okay. His face seemed to be pained but something in his eyes wanted more.

"Are you okay?", Murdoc asked.

"It hurts...but that's okay," Stuart said, "I'm okay..."

He kept pushing in, a small whimper escaping Stuart's mouth. Stuart didn't take his eyes off of him. He was just that intrigued in seeing how Murdoc could possibly fully enter.

Once he was almost done completely going into the younger boy, Stuart suddenly tensed all his muscles. The tight and sudden pressure caused an immediate reaction from Stuart. He sat up in pain and let out a shaky scream.

"We're almost done, okay?", Murdoc asked quickly. He was nearly as scared as Stuart was with the situation. The younger boy kept his eyes shut and his teeth clenched.

"There."

There were no words after that. It was just Stuart panting for air and trying to really adjust to the feeling. It stayed that way for several moments.

"Stuart? Are you alright?", Murdoc asked.

The younger boy seemed to have tuned out the whole time. He looked up at Murdoc with a bit of saliva dripping from his chin.

"Wh-What is it?", he muttered.

"It's in," Murdoc said, "The whole way."

Stuart widened his eyes. "The whole thing?"

He looked down and observed the connection. His mouth was open as he looked closely.

"Wow!", he gawked.

"It's that? Right there?", he said as he pointed at a small bump in his stomach.

Murdoc nodded slowly. He had never really realized that there was a bump before.

Stuart slightly pressed down on the bump. Murdoc felt the pressure on him and couldn't help but be aroused by it. He was sure Stuart had no idea he was making him feel so good.

"How neat!", he smiled.

Murdoc felt his face begin to go red. How could he still find a way to be so cute while they were doing something like this? He was just too much for him.

"I'm going to start moving okay?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart seemed a bit nervous, but he agreed. "Be gentle! It's...my first time..."

Murdoc nodded and slowly started sliding in and out of him. Stuart grunted but didn't really complain. He still hadn't stopped looking down.

Each thrust was slow and went in deeper each time. Murdoc could feel Stuart’s muscles begin to relax slightly. He was beginning to adjust to the feeling, which was good.

Stuart whimpered slightly and got his attention.

"Um...can you...", he breathed.

Murdoc slowed down even more as he waited for Stuart to finish. "Should I slow down?"

"No...I'm just...", Stuart sighed, "Ah, c-can you please go faster?"

Murdoc didn't hesitate and began thrusting faster into Stuart, to the younger boy's delight. He was going at a faster speed but still made sure to be careful. Murdoc tightened his grip on the other's ankles as his speed picked up and as his own heart began racing.

"Oh! Th-That's the spot!", Stuart cried, "Keep going!"

He didn't have to be told in order for him to continue. Murdoc picked up his speed again, his thrusts becoming messier each time. He could hear the bed squeaking with each thrust and Stuart moaning and whimpering underneath him. Those pleads for more were all he needed to keep him going.

"Mmm...Murdoc, h-harder!", Stuart moaned with his eyes shut.

Hearing the bluenette shouting his name like that was turning him on even more, so much that he didn't even question how Stuart learned to say something like that during sex. Either way, it wasn't a bother that he had said it.

He kept going into Stuart until he felt he couldn't go anymore. Murdoc knew he was about to come and it wouldn't be long before the other boy did too.

Sure enough, Stuart sat up and moaned. "I'm...I think I'm going to..."

Murdoc leaned in and bit at Stuart's neck, hard enough to leave a mark as he came inside him.

Once he reached his climax, they both stayed in that position as they caught their breath. Murdoc looked down and saw Stuart had also came onto his stomach.

Murdoc slid out of Stuart and took a deep breath. Stuart scooted back and looked down at his stomach.

"Wh-What's that...?", Stuart asked, pointing at his stomach.

Murdoc chuckled and laid on the bed next to him. "You really don't know anything about this, do you?"

Stuart ignored his comment and prepared to get under the covers.

Just as he was moving his blankets around, Stuart suddenly stopped and didn't move.

"What's wrong?"

Stuart sat with his legs crossed and tried looking down at his bottom.

"Something's...spilling out...", Stuart mumbled.

Murdoc stopped too and took a moment to try and explain to him. "That's...the same thing that came out from you."

Stuart raised a brow and frowned. "Is it...is it b-bad for me?!"

"No, no, it's safe! Did you never take a single sexual education class?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart shook his head. "That kind if thing is...it's just so embarrassing..."

Murdoc sighed. "Anyway, it's okay. You should probably get that cleaned out, though."

The other boy frowned. "How's that?"

Murdoc had yet another one of his wonderful ideas, but he decided it was just too late for anymore and they were both certainly exhausted.

"A quick bath should do it," he said.

"Oh," Stuart mumbled, "Well then...I'll go do that."

He got out of bed and found his towel hanging from a small stand. Stuart quickly covered himself up and made sure Murdoc wouldn't be able to see him. He was really still the same and adorable Stuart he knew.

"You want me to go in with you?"

Stuart’s face turned bright red as he gathered all his clean clothes. "N-No..."

Murdoc couldn't help but to laugh at his reaction. It almost didn't seem like this Stuart and the one from a few minutes ago were the same one.

"I'll be back soon," Stuart said as he left the room.

Murdoc stayed in bed and sighed. It had been a long night.

°°°•••°°°•••

When Stuart came out of the bathroom, his hair seemed darker with the water and his eyes were still dark from not putting in his contacts.

"Sorry if I took too long," he mumbled, "It was kind of tough to get it all out..."

"It's alright," Murdoc said. He watched as the younger boy set all his stuff aside and dried his hair some more.

"You know, I'm starting to get a bit worried...", Stuart said, "What if someone finds out?"

Murdoc fixed himself under the blankets and sighed. "No one will find out. Just come and get some rest."

Stuart got in bed and began fixing his pillows. He laid next to Murdoc but kept his fair distance.

"I'm not that dirty, am I?", Murdoc asked.

"Oh, it's not that!", Stuart laughed, "I just don't want you to be uncomfortable while you sleep..."

Murdoc frowned and scooted closer to him. "I'd feel more comfortable if you were closer."

Stuart's cheeks turned red as Murdoc got him into an embrace. He kept his arm around the boy and leaned his head against his. Murdoc closed his eyes and relaxed. He was just beginning to drift into sleep when Stuart cleared his throat.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart fidgeted with his fingers and kept his stare lowered. "Why did...why did you bite me earlier?"

Murdoc widened his eyes for about half a second and thought of how he could answer that. "Just a form of affection, I guess."

Stuart furrowed his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah," he said, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just a different form of affection from what I'm used to," he muttered.

"Think of it as a way of saying that...", Murdoc started, "That you're mine."

Stuart looked up at him with confusion. "Huh?"

Murdoc took a moment to process what he had said. "You know what, just think of it as a form of affection, okay? I'm not good with words..."

Stuart nodded. He stayed seated for a few seconds until he huddled into Murdoc's chest and closed his eyes. Murdoc began playing with his hair and massaging his head.

Stuart heard Murdoc's heartbeat and felt how his chest would rise and fall with each breath he took.

All of that made Stuart feel really sleepy, but he didn't want to go to sleep just yet. He wanted to stay up longer and keep company for Murdoc. He wanted to continue talking with him about anything and just know that he was with him.

Stuart used his remaining strength and slightly shifted his head up. He saw Murdoc seemed to be dozing off too.

He raised his head completely and got Murdoc to look down at him.

"Are you tired yet?", Murdoc asked.

Stuart yawned but shook his head. "Not at all..."

The other boy laughed and kept looking down at Stuart. They didn't say anything for a bit, both their eyelids growing heavier by the second.

After several minutes of them dozing off, Murdoc tapped Stuart's shoulder and woke him up. Stuart looked up with his eyes barely opened.

"Your neck will hurt if you sleep like that, you should get more comfortable."

Stuart sighed and sat up to get comfortable on his pillows. When he fixed himself under his blankets, he turned to look at Murdoc and smiled.

Murdoc smiled back and leaned in to place a small kiss on his lips. Stuart didn't even try to move as he kissed him. He was already asleep.

The older boy let out a small laugh as he realized it was his second kiss that Stuart was asleep for.

Murdoc placed one last kiss on Stuart's forehead. "Merry Christmas, bluebird."

With that, Murdoc got comfortable underneath the covers and went into a deep sleep as he held onto Stuart’s hand, his heart warm and his mind clear of all worries.

 

°°°•••°°°•••°°°


End file.
